Following last year’s decision by the Financial Activities Task Force (FATF/GAFI) to include Mozambique in the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, known as the “grey list”, a meeting took place with a large group of international partners today.
As part of its strategy to exit the grey list, Mozambique created a high-level committee led by Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane and an executive coordination committee led by Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, to oversee the work being done by the various branches of the Government and international partners to implement the measures indicated by FATF.
The international support efforts are being led by the European Union and The World Bank and include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, the International Monetary Fund, and the Basel Institute among others.
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The European Union Ambassador for Mozambique, Antonino Maggiore, speaking on behalf of the international partners made remarks pointing to the direct impact of money laundering and terrorism finance in the incidents taking place in Cabo Delgado and reassured the partners’ commitment to work with the Government towards a timely depart from the list.
FATF assessments will take place 3 times a year in order to monitor progress and identify areas for additional support. To exit the greylist, Mozambique has to prove through material evidence that all recommendations made by FATF have been complied with and that the country no longer has the strategic deficiencies identified by FATF.
Removing Mozambique from the list will be achieved once Mozambique completes a specific action list and depends largely on the complexity and depth of the deficiencies. There is no specific timeframe to comply with the action list, however, it is very possible to reverse the decision in a relatively short time. Mauritius is a good example, having been removed in less than two years on the grey list.
Both Mozambique and its international partners are following a strategic and implementation structure inspired by the Mauritius model, a model that tackles actions individually and with the appropriate branches of government.
