Resolution No. 03/2019/NQ-HDTP guiding Penal Code’s Article 324 on money laundering

RESOLUTION

Guiding the application of the Penal Code’s Article 324 on money laundering^[1]

THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE’S COURT

Pursuant to the November 24, 2014, Law on Organization of People’s Courts;

For proper and uniform application of Article 324 of Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under Law No. 12/2017/QH14;

After consulting the Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Minister of Justice,

RESOLVES:

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Resolution guides the application of some provisions of the Penal Code’s Article 324 on money laundering.

Article 2. Terms referred to in the guidance on the application of Article 324 of the Penal Code

1. Money includes Vietnam dong and foreign currencies which may be in cash or account balance.

2. Property includes objects, valuable papers and property rights as defined in the Civil Code, which may exist in physical or non-physical form; be movables or immovables; be tangibles or intangibles; documents or legal instruments evidencing the ownership of or interest in the property.

3. Money or property acquired through the commission of an offense means money or property gained through the commission of a criminal act. The identification of a criminal act shall be based on one of the following documents:

a/ Court judgments or rulings;

b/ Documents and evidences provided by proceeding-conducting bodies (e.g., decision on initiation of a criminal case, investigation conclusions, indictment, etc.);

c/ Other documents and evidences to identify the criminal act (e.g., documents and evidences of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), and Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and documents on criminal justice assistance, etc.).

4. Knowing or having grounds to believe that money or property is acquired through another person’s commission of an offense refers to one of the following cases:

a/ The offender directly knows that money or property is gained through another person’s commission of an offense (for example: the offender is told by the person committing the primary offense that the money or property is acquired through his/her commission of an offense);

b/ Through the mass media, the offender knows that another person commits the primary offense (for example: the primary offender’s criminal act has been publicized by a newspaper, radio or television station);

c/ By common sense, the offender can know that money or property is acquired through another person’s commission of an offense (for example: A knows that her husband is a public employee of a state agency with a salary of VND 8 million/month, without other sources of income but still receives an amount of VND 10 billion from her husband to contribute capital to a business without asking about how he earns the money);

d/ As prescribed by law, the offender must know the origin of money or property acquired through another person’s commission of an offense (for example: A buys a car from B without any document of title at the price of one tenth of the car’s value).