Thai cabinet approves draft law on anti-money laundering, terrorism

BANGKOK, May 20 (TNA) - The Thai Cabinet on Sunday approved two draft bills on anti-money laundering and terrorism on hopes that the international money-laundering watchdog would remove Thailand from its blacklist. Justice Minister Police General Pracha Promnog said after a mobile cabinet meeting in Kanchanaburi province that the draft bills would be submitted to the Lower House for enforcement before the end of this year. Pol. Gen. Pracha said the bills would help improve the structure of the government-run Anti-Money Laundering Office and also boost the number of staff. The recent blacklisting of Thailand by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is expected to ease when the watch-dog resumes its meeting in February next year. On related matters, the Cabinet also gave the green light to economic development programmes on the western side of the Gulf of Thailand. The plan would reportedly cater to ongoing development of Myanmar’s Tavoy deep seaport, which was expected to progress into the year 2015 and help push Thailand’s GDP to grow by another 1.9 per cent. The Cabinet also gave approved during Sunday's meeting the allocation of more than 33 billion baht for around 200 projects in eight Central Thai provinces. (TNA)