Macao's Legislative Assembly (LA) has approved a bill on the prevention and repression of money laundering, local media reported on Friday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted LA sources as saying that the article-by-article vote took 40 minutes on Thursday following several weeks of discussions.

The 12-article bill lists a string of businesses and professions that are obligated to fight money laundering, including credit institutions, financial agencies, currency exchanges and casinos, according to the newspaper.

The bill requires a prison term ranging from two to eight years if the money laundering charges are convicted, the sources were cited.

A Macao-based bank in 2005 was alleged by the United States authorities for being involved in a money-laundering case, which put the region under the international spot light.

The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has since spared no effort to stress its determination in combating money laundering crimes.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2006)