Statutes section 1

Section 1: Definitions

In force from 1 February 2002

# 1. Definitions

(1) In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

"accountable institution" means a person referred to in Schedule 1;

"administrative sanction" means an administrative sanction contemplated in section 45C;

"appeal board" means the appeal board established by section 45E;

"authorised officer" means any official of—

(a) an investigating authority authorised by the head of that investigating authority to act under this Act;

(b) the National Prosecuting Authority authorised by the National Director of Public Prosecutions to act under this Act;

(d) the South African Revenue Service authorised by the Commissioner for that Service to act under this Act;

(e) the Independent Police Investigative Directorate authorised by the Executive Director of that Directorate to act under this Act;

(f) the Intelligence Division of the National Defence Force authorised by the Inspector-General of the National Defence Force to act under this Act;

(g) a Special Investigating Unit authorised by the head of the Special Investigating Unit to act under this Act;

(h) the office of the Public Protector authorised by the Public Protector to act under this Act;

(i) an investigative division in a national department authorised by the head of that national department to act under this Act; or

(j) an investigative division of the Auditor-General authorised by the Auditor-General to act under this Act;

"bearer negotiable instrument", means any instrument that may on demand by the bearer thereof be converted to the currency of the Republic or that of another country, and includes, amongst others, cheques, promissory notes or money orders;

"beneficial owner"—

(a) means a natural person who directly or indirectly—

(i) ultimately owns or exercises effective control of—

(aa) a client of an accountable institution; or

(bb) a legal person, partnership or trust that owns or exercises effective control of, as the case may be, a client of an accountable institution; or

(ii) exercises control of a client of an accountable institution on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted; and

(b) includes—

(i) in respect of legal persons, each natural person contemplated in section 21B(2)(a);

(ii) in respect of a partnership, each natural person contemplated in section 21B(3)(b); and

(iii) in respect of a trust, each natural person contemplated in section 21B(4)(c),(d) and (e);

"business relationship" means an arrangement between a client and an accountable institution for the purpose of concluding transactions on a regular basis;

"cash" means—

(a) coin and paper money of the Republic or of another country that is designated as legal tender and that circulates as, and is customarily used and accepted as, a medium of exchange in the country of issue;

(b) travellers' cheques;

"Centre" means the Financial Intelligence Centre established by section 2;

"client", in relation to an accountable institution, means a person who has entered into a business relationship or a single transaction with an accountable institution;

"Director" means the Director of the Centre appointed in terms of section 6;

"domestic politically exposed person" means a person referred to in Schedule 3A;

"entity" has a corresponding meaning with the definition in section 1 of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act, 2004;

"foreign politically exposed person" means a person referred to in Schedule 3B;

"Independent Police Investigative Directorate" means the Independent Police Investigative Directorate established by section 3 of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act, 2011 (Act No. 1 of 2011);

"inspector" means a person appointed in terms of section 45A;

"Intelligence Division of the National Defence Force" means the Intelligence Division of the National Defence Force referred to in section 33 of the Defence Act, 2002 (Act No. 42 of 2002);

"intelligence service" means the State Security Agency referred to in section 3 of the Intelligence Services Act, 2002 (Act No. 65 of 2002);

"investigating authority" means an authority that in terms of national legislation may investigate unlawful activities;

"investigative division in a national department" means an investigative component in a national department listed in Schedule 1 to the Public Service Act, 1994 (Act No. 103 of 1994), having a function by law to investigate unlawful activity within that national department or in another organ of state;

"investigative division of the Auditor-General" means the investigative component of the Auditor-General having the function by law to investigate material irregularities in accordance with the Public Audit Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of 2004);

"legal person" means any person, other than a natural person, that establishes a business relationship or enters into a single transaction, with an accountable institution, and includes a person incorporated as a company, close corporation, foreign company or any other form of corporate arrangement or association, but excludes a trust, partnership or sole proprietor;

"Minister" means the Minister of Finance;

"money laundering" or "money laundering activity" means an activity which has or is likely to have the effect of concealing or disguising the nature, source, location, disposition or movement of the proceeds of unlawful activities or any interest which anyone has in such proceeds, and includes any activity which constitutes an offence in terms of section 64 of this Act or section 4, 5 or 6 of the Prevention Act;¹

"National Commissioner" means the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service referred to in section 207 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996);

"National Director of Public Prosecutions" means the National Director of Public Prosecutions referred to in section 179 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996);

"National Prosecuting Authority" means the National Prosecuting Authority referred to in section

¹ Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Prevention Act read as follows:

"Money laundering

4. Any person who knows or ought reasonably to have known that property is or forms part of the proceeds of unlawful activities and -

(a) enters into any agreement or engages in any arrangement or transaction with anyone in connection with that property, whether such agreement, arrangement or transaction is legally enforceable or not; or

(b) performs any other act in connection with such property, whether it is performed independently or in concert with any other person,

which has or is likely to have the effect -

(i) of concealing or disguising the nature, source, location, disposition or movement of the said property or its ownership or any interest which anyone may have in respect thereof; or

(ii) of enabling or assisting any person who has committed or commits an offence, whether in the Republic or elsewhere -

(aa) to avoid prosecution; or

(bb) to remove or diminish any property acquired directly, or indirectly, as a result of the commission of an offence, shall be guilty of an offence.

5. Assisting another to benefit from proceeds of unlawful activities

Any person who knows or ought reasonably to have known that another person has obtained the proceeds of unlawful activities, and who enters into any agreement with anyone or engages in any arrangement or transaction whereby -

(a) the retention or the control by or on behalf of the said other person of the proceeds of unlawful activities is facilitated; or

(b) the said proceeds of unlawful activities are used to make funds available to the said other person or to acquire property on his or her behalf or to benefit him or her in any other way,

shall be guilty of an offence.