Section 142 Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act
Conducting transactions so as to avoid reporting requirements relating to threshold transactions

Section 142 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 is Conducting transactions so as to avoid reporting requirements relating to threshold transactions and reads as follows:

Conducting transactions so as to avoid reporting requirements relating to threshold transactions

(1) A person (the first person) commits an offence if:

(a) the first person is, or causes another person to become, a party to 2 or more non-reportable transactions; and

(b) having regard to:
(i) the manner and form in which the transactions were conducted, including the matters to which subsection (3) applies; and
(ii) any explanation made by the first person as to the manner or form in which the transactions were conducted;

it would be reasonable to conclude that the first person conducted, or caused the transactions to be conducted, in that manner or form for the sole or dominant purpose of ensuring, or attempting to ensure, that the money, digital currency or property involved in the transactions was transferred in a manner and form that would not give rise to a threshold transaction that would have been required to have been reported under section 43.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years or 300 penalty units, or both.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the defendant proves that the first person did not conduct the transactions, or cause the transactions to be conducted, as the case may be, for the sole or dominant purpose of ensuring, or attempting to ensure, that the money, digital currency or property involved in the transactions was transferred in a manner and form that would not give rise to a threshold transaction that would have been required to have been reported under section 43.

Note: A defendant bears a legal burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2)–see section 13.4 of the Criminal Code .

(3) This subsection applies to the following matters:

(a) the value of the money, digital currency or property involved in each transaction;

(b) the total value of the transactions;

(c) the period of time over which the transactions took place;

(d) the interval of time between any of the transactions;

(e) the locations at which the transactions took place.

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