Money Laundering Prevention
Mandatory acceptance procedure for lawyers
The law of January 11, 1993 to prevent the use of financial systems for money laundering and terrorist financing, or 'the money laundering law' for short, may not mean much to you. However, this law not only has implications for the relationship with your bank, your civil-law notary or any other financial advisor, but also for the relationship with your lawyer.
In implementation of the Money Laundering Act, the Flemish Bar Council issued regulations that must be strictly observed by all lawyers since 30 December 2011. These regulations oblige every lawyer to conduct an acceptance procedure for each client and each file.
Because we think it is important to inform you about this, you will find an explanation below.
We assess the nature of the assignment
We must inquire with you about the nature of the assignment you wish to give us, so that we can determine whether the money laundering law applies.
Insofar as the assignment relates to specific matters that the legislator has designated as 'sensitive to money laundering', the money laundering law may apply and we must conduct an identity check. Specifically, these are the following assignments:
· Acting on your behalf or on your behalf in financial or real estate transactions.
Assist you in preparing or performing one of the following transactions:
i. Purchase or sale of real estate or companies.
ii. Managing money, securities or other assets.
iii. Opening or management of bank savings or securities accounts.
iv. Organizing input required for the establishment, operation or management of companies
v. Formation, operation or management of companies, trusts, fiduciaries or similar legal arrangements.
For advice on determining your legal position, conducting, preparing and even avoiding legal proceedings, the Money Laundering Act does not apply and no identity check is required.
The identification procedure
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Insofar as it appears that the assignment to be entrusted to us falls under the application of the money laundering law, we are obliged to inquire about your identity and that of the legal entity that you may represent. We will ask you for a copy of your identity card and, if it concerns a company, for an extract from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. We may also have to ask you about the origin of funds or assets.
The ultimate beneficiaries
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We must verify who the ultimate beneficiaries of the legal entity-client are. This means that we must inquire about the natural persons who are supposed to exercise control over the company. Exercising control in this case means that they have a decisive influence on the appointment of the majority of board members and/or directors or on the orientation of the company.
In practical terms, we must ask for the identity of all shareholders who own at least 25% of the shares in the company. If these shareholders are in turn legal entities, additional information is required to establish the identity of the natural persons who are the shareholders of those underlying companies. It is necessary to follow the chain of successive owners – and the shareholders of the owners – until the ultimate owner is identified. If this information needs to be changed in the course of our business relationship, we ask you to provide us with this information spontaneously.
Do you have to provide the information we request?
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The law prohibits us from entering into a business relationship with you and obliges us to terminate our provisional intervention if we do not receive the requested information within two weeks of the first request. It is therefore important that you cooperate in the acceptance procedure.
What do we do with your data?
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We guarantee you complete discretion with regard to all data that you entrust to us before and during our business relationship. The Money Laundering Act does not interfere with our professional secrecy. We will therefore only disclose the identification data you have provided to us if we are required to do so by money laundering legislation.
If you would like a copy of the identification sheet that we keep, feel free to ask for it. It will be delivered to you immediately.
We trust that you understand the acceptance procedure that we must follow and assume that you will cooperate in this. You can rest assured that this acceptance procedure will in no way affect our professionalism and commitment to you.
If you would like further explanation, you can always contact us.