'Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Vulnerabilities of Legal Professionals', published by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) shows, according to FATF, 'that not all legal professionals are undertaking client due diligence…when required'. Responding recently to the report, Evangelos Tsouroulis, president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, attacked the report for its basis of ‘hypotheses’. According to the Law Society Gazette, he said 'The result lacks interest and has no pedagogical purpose.'
Suspicious transaction reports
Meanwhile the American Bar Association (ABA), while welcoming the report in many areas, has expressed concern that many 'suspicious transaction reports' are filed by US financial institutions 'that never result in law enforcement action'. The ABA continues: 'We believe it is important to be accurate in depicting the causal role between [suspicious transaction reports] and law enforcement effectiveness, given the substantial stakes to the legal profession and innocent clients arising from compelled reporting on clients, something that various jurisdictions have opposed given their own constitutional systems, human rights, and legal principles.'
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