Money laundering legislation

When the Lawyers of TBA-Advocaten assist the Client in preparing or performing transactions that pertain to the purchase or sale of immoveable property or companies, managing their funds, securities or other assets, opening or managing bank, savings or securities accounts, arranging the contributions necessary for the creation, operation or management of companies, the creation, operation or management of fiduciaries or trusts, companies, foundations or similar structures, or when they act in the name of and on account of their client in any financial transactions or immoveable property transactions, they are obliged to strictly comply with the legislation (Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the restriction on the use of cash) and Bar rules for anti-money laundering and antiterrorism financing (Code of Ethics for Lawyers dated 25-6-2014).

If the engagement of (one of the) Lawyers of TBA-Advocaten by the Client falls under the area of application of the money laundering act, the active lawyer is obliged to identify the Client and request a number of documents for the purpose of corroborating and verifying the identity of the Client, as well as to retain such documentation (in essence, this means a copy of the Client’s identity card/extract from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises). Should the aforementioned law oblige such, the origin of the funds or assets shall have to be ascertained.

This ‘disclosure and due diligence obligation’ not only applies to clients, whether natural persons or legal entities, but also to their mandatories (such as the directors of companies) and the ultimate beneficiaries of legal entities.

For the duration of the relationship with the Client, the Lawyers of TBA-Advocaten are subject to a due diligence obligation and must, where necessary, obtain additional information.

The Lawyers of TBA-Advocaten may by law not enter into a business relationship with a client when that party does not provide the requested information within two weeks of being requested to do so.

If the Lawyers of TBA-Advocaten establish, while performing their duties, the existence of facts that they know or believe to be related to money laundering or financing terrorism, they are obliged to inform the president of the Ghent Bar, unless when such duties pertain to determining the legal status of the Client or to defending the Client in legal proceedings. The president shall decide on whether to provide the information received to the Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit.

The ethical obligations imposed by the Code of Ethics for Lawyers dated 25-06-2014, which includes the regulations under the money laundering legislation (Section III.1.2. – Prevention of money laundering) can be found on the website:

http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/change_lg.pl?language=nl&la=N&cn=2014062505&table_name=wet