Nearly a year has passed since Article 15-2 of the Money Laundering Control Act (hereinafter referred to as the "MLCA") was amended and took effect in June 2023.

Regarding cases involving the handover of dummy accounts prior to the announcement of the new law, some practical opinions consider the requirement under the new law that "police authorities shall first issue a warning disposition" to be an administrative warning penalty preceding criminal punishment, constituting a procedural requirement for instituting a public prosecution. They argue that prior to the fulfillment of the requirement of issuing a warning disposition by the police authorities, a judgment of dismissal of public prosecution should be rendered, which is more consistent with the legislative intent of the amendment to Article 15-2 of the MLCA. Conversely, other opinions hold that Article 15-2 of the MLCA constitutes a new type of offense, with constituent elements distinct from those of aiding and abetting fraud and money laundering, thereby presenting no issue of comparing the old and new laws. Opinions remain divided.

Judicial practice has traditionally relied on presumption to determine that individuals who hand over accounts to others possess the dolus eventualis (conditional intent) for aiding and abetting fraud and money laundering, an approach that has long been subject to doubt. According to official inquiries sent by the JRF to the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, the number of warning dispositions issued for the "crime of unjustifiably handing over an account (number)" under Article 15-2 of the MLCA totaled 1,008 cases from June 16 to September 30, 2023. This accounted for approximately 7.70% of the prosecution cases involving telecommunications network fraud and the mere provision of dummy accounts handled by the prosecutors' offices during the same period. The effectiveness of the new law in reducing the waste of judicial resources on fraud cases is clearly questionable.

With the amendment adding Article 15-2 to the MLCA, the JRF, in collaboration with the Legal Aid Foundation, the Taichung Bar Association, and the Tainan Bar Association, is inviting experts and scholars from the practical field to hold seminars to jointly discuss defense strategies for issues such as: "How should individuals who provided dummy accounts while innocently deceived file objections against wrongful administrative penalties?" and "In individual cases subject to administrative penalties, will judicial practice continue to maintain the pre-amendment approach of prosecuting for aiding and abetting fraud and money laundering?" All colleagues are cordially invited to attend.

 

Sessions

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Agenda

Time	Agenda
13:30 - 14:00	Admission & Check-in
14:00 - 14:05	Opening Remarks by Moderator
14:05 - 15:00	Application and Concurrence of the Crime of Account Handover under Article 15-2 of the Money Laundering Control Act & Sharing of Defense Strategies
15:00 - 15:30	Presentations by Discussants
15:30 - 16:00	Comprehensive Discussion
16:00 -	Adjournment

 

Attachments

• Criminal Judgment No. 144 (2023) of the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court
• Criminal Judgment No. 2673 (2023) of the Supreme Court
• Official Document Fa-Chien-Tzu No. 11204538300 of the Ministry of Justice
• Official Document Ching-Shu-Hsing-Ching-Tzu No. 1120012720 of the National Police Agency

Organizer

Judicial Reform Foundation

Co-organizers

Legal Aid Foundation
Taichung Bar Association
Tainan Bar Association

Event Contact

Chang Hua-che, Legal Specialist, Taichung Office of JRF
Phone: (04)2329-2370#13
Email: ven@jrf.org.tw