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SECTION 4. Money Laundering Offense. Money laundering is a process whereby the process of an unlawful activity are converted, concealed or disguised thereby making them appear to have originated from legitimate sources. It is committed by the following:

(a) Any person, who with knowledge that any monetary instrument or property, in whole or in party, wherever located, directly or indirectly, represents, involves, or relates to, the process of any unlawful activity, conducts or attempts to conduct any transaction involving said monetary instrument or property, or holds, uses, transports, transmits, transfers, remits or otherwise, in any manner or by any means, directly or indirectly, deals with the same

(b) Any person who, with knowledge that any monetary instrument or property, in whole or in part, wherever located, directly or indirectly, represents, involves, or relates to, the proceeds of any unlawful activity, performs any act or fails to perform or refrains from any act, as a result of which act or omission, he, in any manner and by any means, directly or indir5ectly, abets, assists in, or otherwise facilitates any activity of the money launderer referred to in Paragraph (a), above.

(c) Any person who, with knowledge that any monetary instrument or property, in whole or in party, wherever located, is required under this Act to be disclosed, reported or included in a return, statement, report or any similar document to be field with the government or any Supervising Authority, fails to disclose, report or include such monetary instrument or property in said return, statement, report or document.

SECTION 5. Prosecution of Money Laundering Offences.

(a) The Regional Trial Courts shall have jurisdiction to try offenses under this Act, except in so far a public officers who shall be under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan.

(b) The pendency or any proceeding relating to the unlawful activity shall not bar prosecution of any offense under this Act.

(c) Any person may be charged with and convicted of both the offense under this Act and any of the felonies and offenses specified under Section 3(k).

(d) Knowledge of the offenses that any monetary instrumentor property in whole or in part, wherever located, directly or indirectly, or in any manner or by any means, represents, involves, or relates to, the proceeds of any unlawful activity, or that any monetary instrument or property in whole or in party, wherever located, is required under this Act to be disclosed, reported or included in a return, statement, report or any similar document to be filed with the government or any Supervising Authority, may be established by direct evidence or inferred from the attendant circumstances.

(e) The following shall constitute prima facie presumptions:

     (1) In a criminal case for any money laundering offense, when the person being prosecuted therefor has turned fugitive, any monetary instrument or property in his name or belonging to him or in his possession or under his control, shall be presumed prima facie to represent proceeds of an unlawful activity.

     (2) Any offender who has been convicted of any money laundering offense and fails to establish to the satisfaction of the court that said monetary instrument or property was lawfully acquired shall be subject to the presumption in Paragraph (1) above.

     (3) For purposes of civil forfeiture under Section 10, when the monetary instrument or property subject of the suspicious transaction is in an amount manifestly out of proportion to the salary of the person reported therein or his other lawful income or is clearly of questionable provenance, said monetary instrument or property shall be presumed prima facie to represent proceeds of an unlawful activity.

     (4) When a person being prosecuted for any money laundering offense, has introduced, submitted, filed or given any spurious, forged, fictitious, simulated or otherwise false document or identification of the true owner or origin of any monetary instrument or property in any transaction with any covered institution, he shall be presumed, prima facie, to have the knowledge referred to in Paragraph e (1), above.

SECTION 6. Tracking of Assets. Subject to Section 16, upon failure of any covered institution to comply with an order of the Task Force to determine the true identity of the owner of any monetary instrument or property subject of a covered transaction report, or with a request for assistance from a foreign state, and based on probably cause, such monetary instrument or property is believed by the Task Force to be, in whole or in part, and wherever located, representing, involving, or related to, directly or indirectly, in any manner or by any means, the process of an unlawful activity, the court may, upon application of the Task Force, with notice to all persons who appear to have an interest in or claim to, the monetary instrument or property alleged to be the proceeds or an unlawful activity, and after summary hearing, issue an order for the covered institution concerned to identify, locate or quantify said monetary instrument or property, reveal to the Task Force the true owner thereof, and to identify, locate and turn over to the Task Force any document pertinent thereto, as well as to produce and turn over to the Task Force al information about any transaction conducted by or for any person relative to the said monetary instrument or property during such period as the court may direct. Any order so issued by the court under this Section shall be immediately effective and enforceable. No appeal or other petition shall stay the exeution of said order, and neither shall injunctive writ be issued to prevent its implementation.

SECTION 7. Freezing of Assets. Upon determining that thee is probably cause that a money laundering offense under Section 4, is about to be, is being or has been committed, and the monetary instrument or property therein involved may be easily and immediately removed or transferred, resulting in either the loss of control of the covered institution over the said monetary instrument or property or the transaction or relationship involving the same, or the loss of supervision or jurisdiction of the Supervising Authority over the covered institution involved therein, the Task Force may stop, freeze, block, suspend or otherwise temporarily place under its absolute control, the said transaction, monetary instrument or property for a period not exceeding ten (10) days from receipt of notice by the covered institution concerned, for the purpose of filing with the court, the remedy referred to in Section 8, 9, 10 and 11 of this Act and obtaining other necessary reliefs, to ensure that said monetary instrument or property is in custodia legis during the pendency of the appropriate court proceedings.

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