Anti-Money Laundering
Money laundering is giving oxygen to organized crime.
Money laundering crimes can affect a wide range of industries, but jewelry firms are among the most sought-after victims by criminals. Jewelry items and precious stones and metals are susceptible to money laundering and terrorist financing. Why? They are precious, fungible, transportable, accepted everywhere.
Jewelry typically appear at the end-point of a money laundering operation and offer an ideal exit strategy for dirty money. In an example, the vice-president of an ‘equatorial’ country was convicted of corruption and found in possession of luxury items including Fabergé eggs. The ‘1MDB Scandal’ involved officials and their associates who used money siphoned off from the sovereign wealth fund to purchase diamonds.
Implementing strong AML measures protects not only us but also our partners from reputational damage, legal consequences, and financial losses.
We are implementing an AML program, some of the key aspects of which are as follows:
• We have a well-articulated anti-money laundering policy
• We have a designated Money Laundering Reporting Officer who is responsible for oversight of the compliance with AML regulations.
• We perform Customer Due Diligence (CDD) which includes collecting and verifying relevant client information.
• We verifying client identity as per the AML compliance policy