The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) yesterday boasted of its achievement of seizing assets worth over 300 million baht from international wildlife traffickers.
Amlo secretary-general Pol Maj Gen Piyapun Pingmuang said that Amlo has been cooperating with related agencies to launch a proactive operation under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, leading to the seizure of such assets.
The objective is to intercept transnational criminal networks, which can be of benefit to Thailand as it allows it to be a member of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the future, Pol Maj Gen Piyapun said.
This year, the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) assessed Thailand's anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing system, the results of which showed the country passed its criteria at 61.15% -- raised from 56.18% in a previous assessment in 2017.
Pol Maj Gen Piyapun went on to say that the APG learnt that Thailand has complied with more international standards around legal framework for four subjects, which are: supervisory measures of representative financial institutions; a report of suspicious transactions, dealing with countries with risk of money laundering and terrorist and electronic funds transfer regulations.