Canada is calling for governments around the world to share more information on company ownership as part of an international battle against money laundering and terrorist financing.

"The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is one that we must win," federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told a recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary session in Vancouver. "We must stay one step ahead of criminals by continuing to develop ways to defeat them, wherever they operate."

Based at the Organization for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris, FATF is an international body that combats money laundering and terrorist financing. Canada is one of 33 FATF member countries.

According to a Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) report, Canadian money-laundering activity hit the $5 billion level last year - double the 2004 total.

"That's why it's so important that we exercise diligence, not only through our legislation but also through FINTRAC through the sharing of intelligence information with all the nations that participate in the Financial Action Task Force through the work that we do in the G-7," Flaherty told reporters after his speech.

Earlier this month, the federal Conservatives introduced tougher money-laundering legislation, which Flaherty expects to pass through Parliament this fall.

Flaherty said proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act will significantly strengthen Canada's money-laundering and terror-financing laws.

The bill, which the minority government may have difficulty passing if the Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and NDP raise concerns about privacy, calls for an administrative monetary penalty system for individuals and businesses that do not comply.

It also brings money-service businesses that wire money or issue travellers cheques under FINTRAC's control, strengthens know-your-customer rules, requires banks, insurance companies, securities dealers and money-service businesses to identify and monitor the transactions of prominent foreign nationals and their families, and demands the reporting of suspicious transactions.

The Tories are also attempting to limit the amount of cash lawyers can receive from their clients. Flaherty said Ottawa will review the situation to see if legislative changes are necessary.

Most provincial law societies are restricting clients' cash transactions to their lawyers to $7,500.

"They're prepared to voluntarily act, and we'll see how that goes," said Flaherty.

During his speech, he vowed Canada "will put these criminals out of business every chance we get."

While removing $5 billion in laundered money would likely affect the Canadian economy, Flaherty was unapologetic.

"Illegal money is illegal money," he said. "Dirty money is dirty money."

However, little public insight was offered on money laundering in Canada - or elsewhere. The four-day session was only open to reporters during Flaherty's speech on the first day and a wrap-up news conference on the final day.

On both occasions, reporters were ushered in and out of the downtown hotel's conference area by security guards.

The plenary was held as part of a tradition that calls for FATF to meet in the home country of its annual president. Frank Swedlove, a retired federal Finance Department official, holds the presidency until next spring.

Swedlove refused to take any questions on money laundering in Canada. Helen Fisher, an OECD spokeswoman, said Swedlove was speaking from his international position during the wrap-up news conference.

"He's obviously a Canadian, but he's not here to respond to any Canadian-related questions," she advised reporters.

Swedlove and other FATF officials indicated the international body will pay closer attention to "corporate vehicles" - essentially ownership structures - and transactions involving trusts.

Plenary participants received a report, to be made public in coming weeks, that found company multi-layered ownership structures were misused for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes.

The report concludes that the misuse can be reduced if governments have access to information about the "beneficial owner" of a company, its source of assets and business objectives.

Vincent Schmoll, the FATF's secretariat, said practically every money-laundering scheme involves a corporate scheme or trust. Many corporations set up in jurisdictions where authorities can't determine the owner.

Differences in the common-law model practised in Canada and the U.S. and civil-law systems practised in France and other European countries also pose difficulties.

"Any of these money-laundering cases that you read about in the newspaper, look for the corporate vehicle - it's there," said Schmoll.

Another FATF report found new payment technologies, such as prepaid cards and Internet payment systems, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing. Schmoll said the FATF previously looked at them, but did not consider them a concern because there was insufficient market demand for them. "Now, we see they're coming up again," he said.

He said FATF would be concerned if general-purpose cards could be used anywhere, because money can be transferred to an "electric purse" without going through a financial institution, and cards can easily be exchanged across borders.

Schmoll declined to estimate how much money is laundered globally, adding it's difficult to say if the illegal activity is more of a problem in one country than another country.

Alain Damais, the FATF's executive secretary, said the different corporate vehicles make it difficult to determine how much money is laundered globally. But FATF has a good grasp of corporate vehicles, he added, and is stepping up deterrence methods.

"Clearly, it's an ongoing battle - one we'll never stamp out," said Damais.

But FATF was able to report some progress after its session. Swedlove announced that Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has been removed from the list of countries and territories not co-operating with FATF standards. Myanmar was the last of 23 countries placed on the list in 2000 and 2001.

"It's a very extensive process to review countries that are on the list," said Swedlove.

Countries that were previously on the non-co-operative list include the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Nigeria, Russia and Ukraine.

FATF will monitor Myanmar throughout the year for signs of further progress, paying particular attention to its securities, diamond and precious metals industries.

FATF adopted reports assessing Portugal and Iceland's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing systems for compliance with global standards.

China, an official observer in Vancouver, has also moved closer to FATF membership. South Korea served as an official observer at a FATF event for the first time.

FATF is also preparing reports on money laundering and terrorist financing in real estate, value-added tax fraud and drug trafficking.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)