Terrorist Financing Act passed

Parliament on Friday approved the draft bill to amend the Convention on Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act No. 25 of 2005 without a vote after its third reading.

The draft bill when presented to Parliament on Wednesday got hung up in the definition of the word ‘terrorist’ when the Opposition pointed out that the word ‘terrorist’ had not been defined clearly. Leader of the House Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva clarified to the House who a terrorist is and according to the Minister’s definition, a terrorist is a person who is directly or indirectly involved in any terrorist activity or a person who aids and abets him.

The act has been amended to prevent collection of funds for terrorist organisations.

Sri Lanka has provided a high-level written commitment to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an organisation that combats international money laundering and terrorist financing, to implement corrective measures to adequately criminalise money laundering and terrorist financing.