Parliament, Saturday, 29 April 2017 – The Standing Committee on Finance welcomes the President’s decision to sign the FICA Bill into law.
Chairperson of the Committee Mr Yunus Carrim says the Bill will assist our country’s efforts to combat money laundering, illicit financial flows and financing of terrorism.
“Our country has lost over R600 billion in illicit financial flows over the past 10 years. It is big businesses, not emerging black businesses that are primarily responsible for this. It is the poor and disadvantaged who ultimately bear a disproportional burden,” said Mr Carrim.
The Committee believes that opposition to the Bill was based mainly on misunderstandings about or misrepresentations of it. It has always maintained that the Bill does not give the banks any more powers than they currently have, but it does strengthen the capacity of the state to tackle corruption.
“Our government has for over two decades played a major role in shaping the international regulatory standards that the FICA Bill advances. It is certainly not as if our country has simply succumbed to standards set by the imperialist countries of the north,” said Mr Carrim.
Mr Carrim said the Bill will ultimately serve the needs of the poor and disadvantaged the most and is part of our country’s radical economic transformative agenda.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MR YUNUS CARRIM
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