ENG-2008 — Page 383

Public Order | 315

Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance in 1994 enabling it to trace, freeze, confiscate and recover proceeds from drug trafficking and other serious crimes.

To give effect to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 and some of the measures stipulated in the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) Special Recommendations, the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) (Amendment) Ordinance was enacted in 2004. It provides, among other things, the power to freeze the non-fund property of terrorists and terrorist organisations.

To fulfil another FATF Special Recommendation, section 24C(1) and schedule 6 of the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance was amended in January 2007 to require remittance agents and money changers to verify customers' identity and to keep records of transactions of $8,000 or more, instead of the previous threshold of $20,000 or above.

Since the enactment of the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance and the relevant sections of the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, assets valued at $480 million have been confiscated and handed to the Government. As at December 31, 2008, assets worth $89 million were ordered to be confiscated. A further sum of $2,890 million was put on hold pending confiscation proceedings under the two ordinances.

Preparations are being made for holding in 2009 the next series of seminars for designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs). In collaboration with the ND and the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit (JFIU), professional bodies of DNFBPs issued guidelines on AML/CFT for their members to follow.

Estate agents, precious metals and precious stones dealers, remittance agents and money changers and money lenders are provided with an interactive training kit, or guidelines, to assist them in making reports on suspicious transactions and to raise their awareness of the consequences of money laundering and terrorist financing. A series of Announcement In the Public Interest entitled 'Be a Gatekeeper for Hong Kong', and related messages are broadcast routinely to raise awareness of dangers of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.

Hong Kong participated in the activities of FATF and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), an FATF-style regional inter-governmental organisation during the year. It took part in the working group meetings and plenary meetings of the FATF and the APG's annual meeting. It also sent experts to participate in the Mutual Evaluations of other jurisdictions as assessors.

The joint FATF/APG Mutual Evaluation on Hong Kong, which started in 2007, continued into 2008. As part of the Mutual Evaluation process, a delegation led by the Commissioner for Narcotics, attended a meeting in Paris in April where it held talks with international assessors. The Hong

The Hong Kong delegation comprised representatives from the Security Bureau, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Department of Justice, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department and the Companies Registry as well as those from the Hong