Mozambique: FATF assessment enters key phase as visit of technical team nears

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Mozambique: FATF assessment enters key phase as visit of technical team nears

5:54 CAT | 16 Oct 2024

Photo: Notícias

A technical team from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is preparing to visit Mozambique later this year, with the aim of assessing on the ground compliance with the group’s recommendations for the country to be removed from the ‘grey list’.

The arrival of the technicians is seen as a crucial phase for Mozambique, within the framework of the progress made during this period towards removing the negative classification for preventing and combating money laundering, which Mozambique has been labouring under since October, 2022.

To this end, a few days ago, a meeting of the High-Level Committee was held, chaired by the Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, which also included the Attorney General of the Republic, the President of the Supreme Court, the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, among other officials involved in the process of ‘Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism’.

The meeting, considered preparatory for the arrival of the FATF technicians, took place at a time when the country is complying with the recommendations, which allowed the fifth FATF assessment report to be received a few days ago with a positive rating, marking an important step towards Mozambique exiting the ‘grey list’.

The guarantee was given to ‘Notícias’ by the national coordinator of the Executive Committee for Policies to Prevent and Combat Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, Luís Cezerilo, in a conversation with our reporting team, where he discussed the latest developments regarding the matter.

According to Cezerilo, the process of creating a sustainable national financial system will naturally result in the resolution of removing Mozambique from the ‘grey list’.

“The government’s concern is the creation of a sustainable system to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Naturally, by creating this sustainable system, empowering institutions with technological means, human resources, training, and increasing their financial capacity, it will comply with the 26 FATF recommendations for Mozambique’s removal,” Cezerilo said.

Government’s understanding of the phenomenon crucial

Cezerilo states that the understanding of the executive, especially that of the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, on the subject was crucial to achieving the results desired by the country.

According to Cezerilo, within this process, it was necessary to approve laws, as well as decrees by the Council of Ministers, which allowed the materialization and implementation of some measures.

“Without the Government, that is, without the leadership of the President and his team, in understanding the phenomenon, we would not have been able to move forward. This is good to say, because it is the reality,” he said.

Luís Cezerilo stressed the importance of the support of cooperation partners, in particular the European Union (EU), the World Bank, the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism) as well as the partnership with Mauritius, which resulted in intense coordination work, and open and frank dialogue.

According to Cezerilo, the approval of the strategies for combating financing terrorism and money laundering by the Assembly of the Republic was also crucial for Mozambique to move towards the stage it is currently in.

“We are now at the end, in the fifth report, the great and strong commitment that the country has been recognised. Mozambique went from six partially fulfilled actions to largely fulfilled.”

According to the source, due to this result, the technical team of the Financial Action Task Force recommended that Mozambique be able to present the last report by 24 November to show progress and overcome these six remaining activities.

Therefore, a government team led by the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance will participate in the validation of these results, which will ensure that Mozambique, once implemented, complies with the first phase of the 26 recommendations for the subsequent visit of FATF technicians to the country.

Source: Noticias