The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday added Burma to a blacklist of countries at “high” risk for money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and isolated Russia because of the continuation of its war in Ukraine.
Russia continues to violate the fundamental principles of the Gafi aimed at promoting the security and integrity of the financial system, the organization deplored after its Paris plenary meeting which decided to ban it from participating in current and future projects of the Gafi.
The Financial Action Task Force, which will continue to monitor the situation, reiterated in a statement that all jurisdictions should be alert to the risks of circumvention of the measures taken against Russia to protect the international financial system.
Russia is sidelined within the Gafi, Gafi President Raja Kumar told a press conference.
The Gafi has also placed Burma on a blacklist alongside North Korea and Iran, due to a lack of progress and a majority of measures not implemented a year after the deadline. time allowed to complete them, Mr. Kumar explained.
The gray list of countries subject to enhanced surveillance welcomes three newcomers, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Tanzania, while Nicaragua and Pakistan have been removed, the organization announced.
In total, 24 countries are therefore on this gray list.
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The Gafi recalls that Burma had undertaken in February 2020 to act on its strategic shortcomings through an action plan which ended in September 2021. In June, the Gafi had granted a new deadline to the ruling junta to implement is working on its action plan until October, but now sees a lack of steady progress.
When implementing enhanced verification measures, countries must ensure that the flow of money for humanitarian insurance, legitimate charitable activities and remittances from abroad is not disrupted, however Gafi.
The countries on the gray list have for their part made commitments to strengthen their cooperation with the Gafi. The DRC has thus made a high-level political commitment and has already made progress, in particular by making the confiscation of ill-gotten gains a priority measure.
Regarding the significant risk of money laundering posed by cryptocurrencies, Mr. Kumar pointed to anonymous transactions and considered that what has been done so far is insufficient.