Iran continues to pose a threat to the integrity of the international financial system due to its failure to stamp out terrorist financing or money laundering, an international body tasked with combating financial crime said Thursday.
The statement from the Financial Action Task Force came as it published a list of rogue countries that have failed to take sufficient action against terrorist funding and money laundering. They include Angola, North Korea, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Iran must immediately criminalize terrorist financing within its borders and begin reporting of suspicious transactions to meet international standards on countering money laundering and funding of terrorist activities, the task force said in a public statement.
The FATF also urged other countries to advise their banks to pay special attention to their business dealings with Iran and Iranian companies and renewed a call for countries to apply "counter-measures" to protect their financial sectors from money laundering and terrorism financing from Iran.
The FATF said that, if Iran fails to take further action, the task force will consider calling on its member countries to strengthen their counter-measures in June.
The FATF said Angola, North Korea, Ecuador and Ethiopia have weaknesses in their safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing and hadn't committed to an action plan, developed with the FATF, to address them by February. It said Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe have weaknesses that still must be addressed.
The FATF also issued a list of 20 legal jurisdictions that, while they still have deficiencies in the way they deal with money laundering and terrorism financing, have gone as far as developing an action plan with the task force.
These countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Yemen.
The FATF said it is yet to review a large number of financial jurisdictions, but it has begun an initial review of some and will report its findings on these later this year.
Border Watch Headline Animator
Sunday 7 March 2010
Iran continues to pose a threat to the integrity of the international financial system due to its failure to stamp out terrorist financing or money la
Iran, Angola, North Korea, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, São Tomé and Príncipe
The FATF has named 8 countries as not having sufficient money laundering regulations in place: Iran, Angola, North Korea, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, São Tomé and Príncipe. The FATF criticised the following 20 countries for deficiencies in their anti-money laundering regime, while recognising that they had high level political commitment to improve: Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Yemen. international financial crime watchdog has named and shamed countries that are failing to stop dirty money entering the financial system, a move welcomed by Global Witness. However, conspicuously absent are major financial centres and secrecy jurisdictions, many of which also have serious weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regulations. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the intergovernmental group that sets the global anti-money laundering standard, has issued a list of countries which are failing to do enough to crack down on financial crime. The 28 countries include Iran, Greece and Turkey.
“This list is a welcome move by the FATF and will put significant pressure on the named countries to take money laundering seriously,” said Anthea Lawson, a campaigner with Global Witness. “However, the rich countries at the heart of the FATF need to get their own house in order and ensure that they too are meeting its standards”.
The task force has reverted to type by focusing mostly on poorer countries, while ignoring the substantial loopholes in the anti-money laundering systems of many rich jurisdictions. No countries have fully met the FATF standard, not even the United States, which has led the global campaign against dirty money. Global Witness has exposed how banks, including Barclays, Citibank, HSBC, and Bank of America, have been able to do business with corrupt regimes, facilitating corruption and denying some of the world's poorest people a way out of poverty. A recent report by a U.S. Senate committee detailed how foreign officials and their family members exploited holes in the anti-money laundering framework to bring millions of illicit dollars into the U.S. The list is based on the latest round of peer reviews carried by the FATF and its regional bodies. The reviews measured whether countries had laws on the books, rather than whether those laws are actually being implemented and enforced effectively. This should be the next stage of the FATF’s reviewing and blacklisting process.
Global Witness investigates and campaigns to prevent natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses.
“This list is a welcome move by the FATF and will put significant pressure on the named countries to take money laundering seriously,” said Anthea Lawson, a campaigner with Global Witness. “However, the rich countries at the heart of the FATF need to get their own house in order and ensure that they too are meeting its standards”.
The task force has reverted to type by focusing mostly on poorer countries, while ignoring the substantial loopholes in the anti-money laundering systems of many rich jurisdictions. No countries have fully met the FATF standard, not even the United States, which has led the global campaign against dirty money. Global Witness has exposed how banks, including Barclays, Citibank, HSBC, and Bank of America, have been able to do business with corrupt regimes, facilitating corruption and denying some of the world's poorest people a way out of poverty. A recent report by a U.S. Senate committee detailed how foreign officials and their family members exploited holes in the anti-money laundering framework to bring millions of illicit dollars into the U.S. The list is based on the latest round of peer reviews carried by the FATF and its regional bodies. The reviews measured whether countries had laws on the books, rather than whether those laws are actually being implemented and enforced effectively. This should be the next stage of the FATF’s reviewing and blacklisting process.
Global Witness investigates and campaigns to prevent natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses.
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