Vietnam: Measures of account freeze to prevent money laundering

According to Clause 17 Article 1 Decree No. 87/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, account freeze and property sealing or impoundment is one of the temporary measures to prevent money laundering, specifically as follows:

- The reporting entity shall freeze an account or seal or impound property upon decision of competent authorities.

- The competent authorities defined in regulations of criminal procedure laws, sentence enforcement laws and investigation laws have the power to decide to request reporting entities to freeze accounts or seal or impound property and shall be answerable for such decision.

- Account freeze or property sealing or impoundment must be recorded in writing and include the following basic information: Name of the reporting entity freezing the account or sealing or impounding property; full name of the account holder or organization/individual related to property being sealed or impounded; frozen amount; beginning and end of period of account freeze or property sealing or impoundment; reason for requesting account freeze or property sealing or impoundment; or using the specimen used in criminal procedures.

- The reporting entity must report to the State Bank of Vietnam in writing immediately after freezing an account or sealing or impounding property.

- The State Bank of Vietnam shall ex officio cooperate with competent authorities in freezing accounts or sealing or impounding property.

View other provisions at Decree No. 87/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from November 14, 2019.

Thu Ba

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