Our Legal Functions and Powers

The Financial Intelligence Unit was formed with the enactment of the Financial Intelligence Unit Act 2023 on 8th April 2024.

The Act defined the duties and functions of the FIU and the powers it has been afforded to discharge those duties and functions.

Functions of the Financial Intelligence Unit

The Financial Intelligence Unit Act 2023 commenced on 8^th April 2024.

The Act established a department of government to be known as the Financial Intelligence Unit (“the Unit”).

The functions of the Unit are defined under Section 5 of the Act

The functions of the Unit are to—

receive, gather, store, analyse and disseminate information relating to suspected criminal property, potential money laundering and money laundering offences, potential terrorist financing and terrorist financing offences, potential proliferation financing and proliferation financing offences and potential cybercrime and cybercrime offences, including receiving, analysing and disseminating disclosures made under the Proceeds of Crime Act or any other enactment;
conduct inquiries for purposes of gathering information under this Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act or any other enactment
request, access, exchange, receive, process, maintain, correlate, store, analyse, interpret and provide feedback on—
- information (including information from any foreign financial intelligence authority) disclosed to it, or obtained by it, for the purposes of this Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act or any other enactment;
- suspicious transaction reports and other reports made to or received by the Unit under this Act, or under any other enactment;
- customs information regarding cross border monetary declarations;
- trends and typologies for the combating of money laundering activities, terrorist financing, proliferation activities and cybercrime activities

conduct operational analysis and strategic analysis of information received and held by the Unit; and
investigate potential money laundering and money laundering offences, potential terrorist financing and terrorist financing offences, potential proliferation financing and proliferation financing offences and potential cybercrime and cybercrime offences.

The FIU:

shall receive all disclosures of information, including information from a foreign financial intelligence authority, which—
- concern criminal property, money laundering, terrorism, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, cybercrime or suspected criminal property, suspected money laundering, suspected terrorism, suspected terrorist financing, suspected proliferation financing or suspected cybercrime; and
- are relevant to its responsibilities as a financial intelligence agency;
may, by written notice, require any person to provide the Unit with information, other than information that is privileged material, for the purpose of clarifying or amplifying information disclosed to the Unit;
shall receive requests for information from a foreign financial intelligence authority concerning criminal property, money laundering, terrorism, terrorist financing, proliferation financing or cybercrime or suspected criminal property, suspected money laundering, suspected terrorism, suspected terrorist financing, suspected proliferation financing or suspected cybercrime;
may enter into such written agreements, arrangements or memoranda of understanding with domestic authorities or foreign financial intelligence authorities as the Unit considers necessary or desirable for the discharge or performance of the functions of the Unit including for the exchange of information;
shall retain for a minimum period of seven years a written record of—
- all information received, requested or disseminated by the Unit; and
- all agreements, arrangements or memoranda of understanding entered into under paragraph (c);
may provide such feedback to persons who have disclosed information to the Unit as it considers appropriate;
shall collect, compile and publish annually in such manner and form as the Unit determines, statistical information relating to disclosures made to the Unit and any dissemination of such disclosures by the Unit; and
has such other functions as may be specified in this or any other Act.

The Unit is operationally independent and autonomous and—

is not subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in the execution of its functions; and
may make arrangements or engage independently with other domestic authorities or agencies or foreign intelligence units on the exchange of information.

FIU's Officer Powers:

A member of staff of the Unit has the investigative, search, arrest and seizure powers of a police officer in accordance with section 24 of the Police Act (Cap. 10.01), to the extent necessary for the execution of his functions under this Act.
If, in an enactment relating to a financial offence, the jurisdiction of the Unit is not specifically excluded, the Unit shall have the authority to deal with the financial offence to the extent of the powers granted to it under that enactment.

Functions of Director

The Director is responsible for the administration and management of the Unit.
In administering and managing the Unit, the Director is responsible for—
- the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Unit;
- the discharge of the Unit’s functions and the exercise of its powers;
- doing anything or entering into any arrangement which, in the opinion of the Director, is incidental or conducive to the proper performance of his functions; and
- formulating and implementing management guidelines and policies and an annual plan approved by the Supervisory Board for the control and prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, cybercrime or other financial offence;
- collecting, compiling and publishing annually in such manner and form as approved by the Supervisory Board, statistical information relating to disclosures made to the Unit and any dissemination of such disclosures by the Unit; and
- the discharge of such functions and exercise of such powers as may be assigned to, or conferred on him by this enactment or any other related enactment.

FIU Corporate Reporting

The Director shall prepare and submit to the Supervisory Board and the Governor quarterly reports on the performance of the functions of the Unit and in particular, on matters that may affect the public policy or the priorities of the Unit.
The Director shall within three months after the end of each financial year or within such longer period as the Governor may in special circumstances approve, cause to be made and transmitted to the Attorney General, the Supervisory Board and the Governor, an annual report dealing generally with the activities of the Unit during the preceding financial year.
The Attorney General shall cause a copy of the annual report under subsection (2) to be laid before the Legislative Assembly.
The Director shall not disclose in a report under this section—
- any information that would directly or indirectly identify a person who provided a report to the Unit or a person about whom a report was provided under this Act; or
- any information in the possession of the Unit, received in the conduct of its duties under this Act.
For the purposes of this section, “financial year” means a period of twelve months ending on 31 March.