AG/RES. 1459 (XXVII-O/97)
COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING
(Resolution adopted at the sixth plenary session, held on June 4, 1997)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN:
The report of the Permanent Council on the need to examine and agree on a coordinated hemispheric response, including the consideration of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering (AG/doc.3541/97); and
Resolution AG/RES. 1396 (XXVI-O/96), "Combating Money Laundering," which instructed the Permanent Council's Working Group on Money Laundering to continue consideration of an inter- American convention to combat money laundering;
CONSIDERING:
The decision taken by the heads of state and government at the Summit of the Americas held in 1994 on the need to "hold a working-level conference, to be followed by a ministerial conference, to study and agree on a coordinated hemispheric response, including consideration of an inter- American convention, to combat money laundering"; and
The recommendation of the Ministerial Conference concerning the Laundering of Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime, held in Buenos Aires on December 2, 1995, whereby, in order to comply fully with the mandate conferred by the heads of state and government, a working group was to be established under the auspices of the OAS to consider the proposal of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering and to identify priorities for the basic harmonization of national laws;
REAFFIRMING that the transfer, exchange, and investment of illicit proceeds from drug trafficking and other illegal activities are serious crimes and a challenge to law enforcement and can jeopardize financial and trading systems; and
MINDFUL of the work performed by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and especially of its decision to convene the Group of Experts that developed the "Model Regulations concerning Laundering Offenses Connected to Illicit Drug Trafficking and Related Offenses," so that it might continue to prepare a plan of action for CICAD pursuant to the recommendations of the Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires in December 1995,
RESOLVES: