AML Policy

According to the Financial Action Task Force (hereinafter referred to as the “FATF”) report “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Vulnerabilities of Legal Professionals”, criminals may seek the advice and services of legal professionals to facilitate money laundering and other illicit financial activities.

FATF typologies demonstrate that legal services commonly used for legitimate purposes may also be misused for money laundering or terrorist financing. Such misuse can be difficult to identify because the underlying transactions and services may appear legitimate.

Legal professionals may be targeted because their services are necessary for certain transactions and their involvement may lend an appearance of legitimacy to otherwise suspicious activities.

At Manimama OÜ (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”, “we”, “us”, “our”), we recognize that compliance with applicable legal, professional and ethical obligations, together with appropriate risk-based measures, is essential to preventing the misuse of legal services for money laundering or terrorist financing.

Accordingly, the Company has adopted this Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Policy (hereinafter referred to as the “Policy”) to establish its approach to customer due diligence, the identification and management of money laundering and terrorist financing risks, and compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (hereinafter referred to as the “AML/CFT”) requirements.

The Company applies the Estonian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) when providing services or carrying out activities falling within the scope of the Act, including the activities specified in § 2(2). Where the Act does not apply to a particular service, the Company may nevertheless apply appropriate identification, verification and risk management measures in accordance with applicable law and its internal policies.

Customer Due Diligence (hereinafter referred to as “CDD”) measures include, where applicable:

identifying the customer and verifying their identity using reliable and independent sources; identifying and verifying persons acting on behalf of the customer and their authority to represent the customer; identifying the customer’s beneficial owners, taking measures to verify their identity and understanding the customer’s ownership and control structure; understanding the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship or transaction; assessing the customer’s money laundering and terrorist financing risks; monitoring the business relationship and relevant transactions in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

We also reserve the right to request information and supporting documents to establish and verify, where appropriate, the origin of the customer’s assets.

The scope and extent of CDD measures depend on the nature of the services, the customer’s risk profile and applicable legal requirements. The Company may apply enhanced due diligence measures where required by law or justified by the identified risks.

We reserve the right to request the following information from individual customers, where relevant to the applicable identification, verification and CDD requirements:

contact data and identification data (passport data; personal identification number, where applicable; email and phone number; full permanent address); employment status information; information and supporting documents confirming the source of wealth and source of funds, where applicable; bank data, including bank account holder name, bank account number (IBAN), bank name, bank SWIFT/BIC code, where applicable.

In most cases, we will ask you to provide documents supporting the above information. For example, we may ask you to provide a high-quality color photo of your passport, provide a utility bill to verify your address, and complete a liveness check where required for identity verification.

We may also ask you to provide documents and information not listed in this Policy if we believe that this information is necessary for the CDD procedure and compliance with the requirements of applicable AML/CFT legislation.

You have the right not to provide us with your data, but in this case, we may be unable to provide you with our services. Where the requested information or documents are necessary to complete CDD measures required by applicable law, the Company shall not establish or continue the business relationship if such measures cannot be completed, subject to applicable statutory exceptions.

If we suspect that you have provided false, misleading, inaccurate or forged information or documents, we may request additional information or verification and refuse, suspend or terminate the provision of services where required or permitted by applicable law.

Please note that all information you provide to us must be accurate, complete and up to date, and you must provide any explanations reasonably necessary to verify the information requested.

Where required by applicable law, the Company shall report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the competent Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit, subject to applicable legal professional privilege, confidentiality obligations and statutory exceptions.

We reserve the right to request the following information from a legal entity’s authorised representative, where relevant to the applicable identification, verification and CDD requirements:

company contact data (registered and business address; official email; phone number; website); company identification data (full legal name, legal form, date of incorporation, company number, country of incorporation, country of taxation, business description); company’s authorised representative’s details (full name; position within the legal entity; phone number and email; full permanent address); bank details (if any) (bank account holder name, bank account number, bank name, bank SWIFT/BIC code); corporate structure details, including shareholders and beneficial owners details, and information necessary to understand the ownership and control structure of the legal entity.

In most cases, we will ask you to provide documents supporting the above information. For example, we may ask you to provide us with a (i) a certificate of incorporation or an equivalent registration document, (ii) the memorandum of association, (iii) most recent articles of association/by-laws, (iv) certificate of good standing (not older than 12 months), (v) certificate of shareholders, (vi) certificate of directors; (vii) bank statement; (viii) business plan (if applicable); (ix) a copy of the annual financial statement or audited accounts (if applicable); (x) supporting documentation of the source of funds.

Equivalent documents or information obtained from reliable and independent sources may be accepted where appropriate and permitted by applicable law.

The identities of beneficial owners, authorised representatives and, where necessary, shareholders who are natural persons will be identified and verified in accordance with applicable CDD requirements and the identified risks. The Company may also request documents confirming the authority of the persons acting on behalf of the legal entity.

We may also ask you to provide documents and information not listed in this Policy if we believe that this information is necessary for the CDD procedure and compliance with the requirements of applicable AML/CFT legislation.

You have the right not to provide us with your data, but in this case, we may be unable to provide you with our services. Where the requested information or documents are necessary to complete CDD measures required by applicable law, the Company shall not establish or continue the business relationship if such measures cannot be completed, subject to applicable statutory exceptions.

If we suspect that you have provided false, misleading, inaccurate or forged information or documents, we may request additional information or verification and refuse, suspend or terminate the provision of services where required or permitted by applicable law.

Please note that all information you provide to us must be accurate, complete and up to date, and you must provide any explanations reasonably necessary to verify the information requested.

Where required by applicable law, the Company shall report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the competent Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit, subject to applicable legal professional privilege, confidentiality obligations and statutory exceptions.

We do not establish or maintain business relationships with the following categories of customers, subject to applicable legal requirements and statutory exceptions:

customers who fail or refuse to provide, the requested data and information necessary to complete applicable identification, verification or other CDD measures; shell banks and customers with whom establishing or maintaining a business relationship is prohibited by applicable law; customers from jurisdictions prohibited under the Company’s internal policies or applicable international or national sanctions and restrictive measures; customers in respect of whom the Company identifies a suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, where establishing or continuing the business relationship is prohibited under applicable law; politically exposed persons and their close associates; any other customers whose legal, regulatory, reputational or money laundering and terrorist financing risks are considered unacceptable by the Company.

The exclusion of politically exposed persons and their close associates reflects the Company’s internal customer acceptance policy and does not constitute a general prohibition imposed by applicable AML legislation.

We also will not accept as customers, persons or entities from the following countries and territories:: Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Crimea (region of Ukraine), Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar (Burma), Non-government controlled areas of region of Donetsk (region of Ukraine), Non-government controlled areas of region of Kherson (region of Ukraine), Non-government controlled areas of region of Luhansk (region of Ukraine), Non-government controlled areas of region of Zaporizhzhia (region of Ukraine), Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea (DPRK), Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Republic of Artsakh, Russia, Somalia, South Ossetia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Transnistria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe and other countries and jurisdictions, where these services can not be provided by legislation countries where the provision of services is prohibited by applicable law or the Company’s internal policies.

For the purposes of this Policy, the Company’s restrictions concerning the above jurisdictions apply in accordance with its internal customer acceptance criteria and applicable legal requirements. The inclusion of a country or territory in this list does not necessarily mean that it is subject to a comprehensive international sanctions prohibition.

We reserve the right to unilaterally refuse to engage with any jurisdiction or individual client at any time if we determine that the associated AML risk is unacceptably high.

The Company may also refuse to establish or continue a business relationship where the customer presents unacceptable legal, regulatory or reputational risks, subject to applicable law and contractual obligations.

Customer identification information, CDD records and supporting documents collected under applicable AML legislation will be retained for at least five (5) years following the termination of the business relationship, subject to the specific retention periods, extensions, exceptions and other requirements established by applicable law.

Records relating to transactions and other activities subject to statutory recordkeeping obligations will be retained for the periods prescribed by applicable law.

Personal data collected for AML/CFT purposes will be processed and retained in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and statutory retention obligations. Once the applicable retention period expires, personal data will be deleted or otherwise securely disposed of unless further retention is required or permitted by law.

We cooperate with competent supervisory authorities, the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit and law enforcement authorities in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. Where required or permitted by applicable law, we may disclose relevant information and documents to such authorities and respond to their lawful requests, subject to applicable professional confidentiality obligations, legal professional privilege and statutory exceptions.

We may also disclose relevant information to authorised external service providers or professional advisers where necessary for the provision of our services or compliance with applicable legal obligations, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection requirements.

For any relevant requests, please contact us at support@manimama.eu