In accordance with section 157(6)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“Act”), the Associate Minister of Justice hereby gives notice that he has granted the following exemption from the Act.

Ministerial exemption: Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (NZBN: 9429030180710)

1. As the Associate Minister of Justice, and pursuant to section 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“Act”), I exempt Crown Irrigation Investments Limited from the following provisions of the Act:
1. Part 2 subpart 1 section 10 to 71 inclusive.
2. The exemption is subject to the following conditions:
1. the exemption is limited to the activities of Crown Irrigation Investments Limited only.
2. this notice is not intended to be relied upon by borrower irrigation schemes.
3. Crown Irrigation Investments Limited will inform the Ministry of Justice of any changes that may affect the exemption and/or conditions within 14 days from when the change affecting the exemption occurs.
3. The exemption has been granted for the following reasons:
1. There is a low risk of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with the reporting entities customer, being the irrigation schemes to which it lends.
2. The reporting entity has no requirement to conduct customer due diligence on irrigators because the legal threshold for beneficial ownership is not exceeded.
3. The reporting entity has no visibility on transactions outside of the scope of its own lending activities, therefore the ability to detect money laundering and terrorist financing activities is limited.
4. The level of regulatory burden would likely be disproportionate if the entity was held to comply with the Act.
5. The entity is a Crown company created out of necessity, which has no competitors. Consequently, there are no issues of competitive advantage or disadvantage to address.
4. This exemption came into force on 7 February 2018.
5. This exemption will expire on 30 November 2022.

Any person wishing to provide comment on this notice should contact the Criminal Law Team at the Ministry of Justice by emailing international.crime@justice.govt.nz.