The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which fights against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, placed South Africa as well as Nigeria on its gray list this week. Morocco is leaving the FATF gray list.
South Africa and Nigeria thus join some twenty other countries such as Syria, the DRC or even Mozambique which are also on the FATF gray list and which are subject to increased surveillance by the the intergovernmental body which, however, does not yet consider them to be ” high risk and to blacklist.
South Africa was also expecting this decision when the reforms have not been enough in recent months to raise the bar, says our correspondent in Johannesburg, Claire Bargeles.
The FATF had already pointed out, in a report last October, the weaknesses of the South African system in the fight against dirty money, with twenty of the forty criteria of the organization little or non-compliant.
According to this report, if the country has well “ a solid legal framework “, it is on the side of the application of the laws that the shoe pinches, with in particular ” failures to prosecute important cases. »
Progress has been made since then, but it remains insufficient for the FATF, and the judicial investigations into money laundering or terrorist financing network cases are still too inconclusive, as is the recovery of assets, for lack of means and SKILLS. Flaws that were particularly highlighted during the period of “capture of State » under the presidency of Jacob Zuma, a period during which the institutions supposed to monitor these transactions were a little more weakened.
In the long term, going on this gray list could deteriorate the business climate in the country and make it more complicated to obtain certain funds. The government has until 2025 to apply the FATF recommendations.
Morocco leaves the gray list
The name of Morocco is officially no longer on the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force, indicates, for its part, our correspondent in Rabat, Victor Mauriat. It was also a decision eagerly awaited by the Moroccan authorities and economic powers.
At its last meeting, last October, the FATF had decided to keep Morocco on its gray list, which had caused great disappointment in the Cherifian business community.
However, a few months later, after observing in the field ” compliance of the national system with international standards “, the institution has this time decided, unanimously, to remove the kingdom from this famous list.
Since February 2021, the FATF has accused Morocco of “ failures in its control systems for the financing of terrorism and money laundering and had then indicated to the government eight recommendations to follow in order to comply with international regulations.
Two years later, the mission has been fulfilled by the Moroccan authorities who, after being removed from the European Union’s list of tax havens in 2021, can now hope to obtain a better position on the international financial market, particularly with rating agencies.