Who we are
On August 2, 2000 the Israeli Knesset enacted the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law (hereinafter: the "PMLL" or "the Law"). The law establishes The Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority (hereinafter "IMPA" or "The Authority") Functioning as Israel's FIU. Our main goal is to manage, process analyze and secure a data warehouse, which accumulates reports received from the financial sector in accordance with the provisions of the law, and upon suspicion of money laundering activity, disseminate relevant information to the competent authorities. By doing so, IMPA assists the worldwide battle against money laundering and terror financing. IMPA became operational on January 2002 and began receiving reports in February 2002.
Legislative Background
The enactment of the PMLL represents the significant reforms Israel has undergone in the last three years, the purpose of which are the establishment of the necessary legislative tools and enforcement mechanisms needed to effectively fight money laundering and terror financing. These reforms were, among other things, designed to address all the criteria identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) with respect to the cooperation of Israel in the fight against money laundering and terror financing.
PMLL – Highlights
On August 2, 2000 the Israeli Knesset enacted the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law.
The Law, among other things:
v Establishes criminal offenses with respect to money laundering
v Imposes identification, record retaining and reporting obligations on providers of financial services
v Establishes financial sanctions for failure to comply with these
v Mandates the establishment of an administrative Financial Intelligence Unit to manage the data warehouse of reports received under the Law from different entities
v Responsible for receiving, analyzing obtaining and disseminating information which relates to the offenses specified in the second schedule of the law
Our Mandate
IMPA was created as Israel's Financial Intelligence Unit to answer the urgent need to fight money laundering and terror financing. IMPA's mandate is to provide the competent authorities, both in Israel and abroad, with information regarding suspicious money laundering activities, and by thus aid and facilitate the investigation of money laundering and terror financing offenses.
Our mandate is to:
v Receive and collect currency transaction reports and unusual reports from financial institutions as well additional information relevant to money laundering and terror financing activities.
v Manage, analyze and secure a database, which accumulates reports from the institutions required to do so under the law.
v Analyze and assess the information received.
v Disseminate information to the Israeli police upon suspicion of money laundering activities.
v Disseminate information to the Israeli Security Service for the purpose of prevention and investigation of activities of terrorist organizations or of acts against national security.
v Ensure that the information received is protected from unauthorized disclosure.
v Disseminate information to foreign Flu's for the purposes of implementing our law, as part of the international combat against money laundering and terror financing.
Our vision
IMPA strives to insure the existence of an adequate anti money laundering regime in Israel by strengthening the flow of financial intelligence information to the competent authorities. We vision ourselves as a leading force of an interagency effort to effectively participate in the global struggle against money laundering and terror financing.