New Money Laundering Bill (C-25) - No Worries for Clients (or Lawyers)
The government has revealed a new bill, C-25, which if passed will amend the current anti-money laundering regime. The last two GFN blog entries have discussed anti-money laundering legislation, and in particular have considered the fate of past attempts to subject lawyers to the various client-identification, data-collection and reporting obligations. In this respect, Bill C-25 is of interest because no new attempts are made to regulate the activities of lawyers. For the time being, lawyers need only comply with their professional obligations and the Criminal Code prohibitions against handling proceeds of crime and money laundering. There is no doubt that this state of affairs affords the most protection for the confidentiality of client-lawyer information.
