Mozambique expects to be removed from FATF ‘grey list’ in March

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Mozambique expects to be removed from FATF ‘grey list’ in March

11:50 CAT | 28 Jan 2025

File photo: Reuters

The Mozambican authorities told Lusa yesterday that Mozambique could exit the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) financial jurisdiction “grey list” in March.

“Today we received the results of the sixth assessment report from the FATF and Mozambique was assessed in the 26 actions it was required to comply with, with the result of being largely complied with, and positively approved in 25 actions,” said the national coordinator for the removal of Mozambique from the grey list, Luís Abel Cezerilo.

Mozambique was added to the list on October 22, 2022 for failing to eliminate deficiencies in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Luís Cezerilo, who is also the deputy director-general of the Mozambique Financial Intelligence Office ( GIFiM ), said that the country had an “exceptional result” in FATF’s latest assessment, which recognized Mozambique’s “great political commitment in fulfilling its action plan”.

Cezerilo indicated that Mozambique’s removal from the grey list is now pending the last of the 26 required actions, the submission to the FATF of the list of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs] which move “large sums of money”, including data on the application of such amounts.

“There is still an immediate result to be achieved regarding Non-Profit Organizations, in terms of determining which of them fall under the FATF recommendation. The country has already done everything, these organizations just need to update their databases,” Cezerilo pointed out, warning that the law only requires these organizations to update the information now required in their databases on the date of their legal incorporation.

“We have already done everything. The law, which we cannot go against, requires organizations to register on the date of their incorporation. What we are going to do is that all those that register by March will have the number, so we can inform the FATF,” he concluded.

A report by the Mozambican government, produced as part of the Mozambican government’s commitment as a member of the FATF global network, concluded in June that there are no links between NPOs and the financing of terrorism, which affects the northern province of Cabo Delgado, but did concede vulnerabilities.

“No links and/or use of NPOs for the financing of terrorism were identified. Nor was there evidence of fraud and corruption practices in the NPO sector or crimes such as money laundering,” the report reads.

The document acknowledges the “existence of terrorism in Mozambique by the terrorist group operating in Cabo Delgado called ASWJ [Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah] and its links” to the Islamic State.

The report points out that “potentially” “terrorist actors can abuse” these organizations as “vehicles for receiving financial resources from abroad for internal channelling”, through the use of “religious institutions, such as mosques and madrasas, for recruitment and logistical support”, as well as the possibility of “terrorist supporters” presenting themselves “falsely as humanitarian aid agencies to hide their activities”.

Source: Lusa