A New Zealand court recently issued its judgement in the civil proceedings against Auckland-based money remitter OTT Trading Group Limited (OTT) and Christchurch-based money remitter, MSI Group Limited (MSI). New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) had filed these proceedings under the country’s AML/CFT Act.
In May 2020, the authorities had granted restraining injunctions against three people associated with OTT and MSI. One of these people was an employee, who can no longer become a compliance officer for any reporting entity. The other two were the directors of OTT and MSI, who were restrained from becoming a reporting entity or a senior member of such an entity.
OTT and MSI had violated the AML/CFT Act between May 2014 and April 2019. To add to the violations, the companies did not cooperate with the DIA in its investigation. In fact, they actively tried to misdirect the DIA. As part of the judgement, OTT has received a fine of $3.1 million, while MSI has received a fine of $4.485 million. Moreover, the authorities have also granted a restraining injunction against OTT.