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General News of Friday, February 15, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-02-15
The list does not result in any type of sanction, restriction of commercial relations
The European Commission (EC) has added Ghana to a list of 23 countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing frameworks.
Ghana and its neighbor in West Africa, Nigeria, were added to an already existing 16-country blacklist, announced by the EC in a February 13 press release.
The list does not result in any type of sanction, restriction of commercial relations or obstruction of development aid; but obliges banks and obliged entities to apply enhanced due diligence measures for transactions involving these countries.
Other newcomers to the list are Libya, Botswana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four American territories of American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.
The other states mentioned are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.
Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were abolished.
The Commission concluded that the 23 countries had strategic shortcomings in their counter-terrorism financing regimes.
According to the EC, the purpose of this list is to protect the EU financial system by better preventing the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Following this listing, banks and other entities covered by EU anti-money laundering rules will have to apply increased due diligence on financial transactions involving clients. and financial institutions in these countries to better identify suspicious cash flows.
V? Ra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said: "We have set the highest standards in the world for combating money laundering, but we must ensure that dirty money from other countries does not spread system. Dirty money is the cornerstone of organized crime and terrorism. I invite the countries listed to quickly remedy their deficiencies. The Commission is ready to work closely with them to solve these problems for our mutual benefit. "
For each country, the Commission badessed the level of threat, the legal framework and the controls put in place to prevent the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing and their effective implementation. The Commission also took into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international standard setter in this area.
What are the criteria used to establish the list?
As regards the evaluation criteria of the countries during the quotation phase, these were initially defined by the 4th anti-money laundering directive. The criteria have been reinforced by the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive and now include:
the strategic shortcomings of the affected countries, in particular with regard to the legal and institutional framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, such as;
the criminalization of money laundering and terrorist financing,
customer due diligence and record keeping obligations,
the reporting of suspicious transactions,
the availability and exchange of information on beneficial owners of legal persons and legal provisions,
the powers and procedures of the competent authorities,
their practice in international cooperation,
the existence of dissuasive, proportionate and effective sanctions.
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