Strasbourg, 06/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - By approving the report by German Christian Democrat Klaus-Heiner Lehne on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering (see EUROPE of 2/3 April, p.16), the European Parliament altered the Council's common position along the lines that the European Commission cannot accept, as Commissioner Frits Bolkestein pointed out during the debate in night session. Conciliation will therefore be necessary. In particular, even though it did not fully follow its rapporteur (because she did not manage to secure the 314 votes needed by co-decision, on second reading), plenary approved amendments to which the Commission is hostile, as it believes, as Bolkestein said, Parliament would thereby broaden by far the field of professions targeted. Parliament broadened the Directive's field in particular to merchants of precious stones and metals, merchants of works of art, sellers of luxury articles and auctioneers (under certain conditions) and to managers, owners and directors of casinos. Likewise, casinos that purchase chits equal to or over 1000 euro are held to proceed with the identification of their customers.
Parliament did, however, defend the notion of confidentiality that rapporteur was particularly keen on, stating in an amendment that it would not be "appropriate" that the directive should impose the obligation of communicating possible suspicions regarding money laundering to lawyers of barristers representing a client in a formal judicial procedure or providing him or her with legal advice. This amendment, however, only relates to a "recital" that has no binding value, whereas another amendment that would have included this respect of confidentiality in the directive was rejected, by only a few votes.