The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a G-7 arm entrusted with fighting money laundering around the world, has recently removed Lebanon and Israel from its list of non-cooperative countries and territories (NCCTs) in the fight against money laundering. FATF’s decision is hoped to boost these countries’ prospects at attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).
“In line with past practice, the FATF will continue to monitor closely future developments in these jurisdictions,” an FATF announcement read. The decision to remove Lebanon from the blacklist follows a series of measures undertaken by the country’s central bank, aimed at making financial institutions abide by a money laundering law endorsed last year.
Following Egypt’s enactment of Law no. 80-2002 for Combating Money Laundering on May 22, 2002, the North African country was also mentioned in the FATF report, as a country that has recently taken steps towards cooperating in the fight against money laundering. Last February, FATF welcomed Lebanon as a member in fighting dirty money, which was perceived as a preliminary step towards its removal from the list of non-cooperating countries.
The current list of NCCTs includes Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Grenada,
Guatemala, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Niue, Philippines,
Russia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Ukraine.
In 2001-2002, the Paris-based organization was under the Presidency of Hong Kong, China.
A major priority of the FATF during 2001-2002 has been the implementation of its Plan of
Action to counter terrorist financing, which includes a self-assessment process for all its members on their anti-terrorist financing measures.
The FATF is an independent international body whose Secretariat is housed at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The 29-member governments of the FATF are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, China, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and the US.
Two international organizations—the European Commission (EC) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—are also members of the FATF. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
