Mozambique: Parliament approves money laundering, terror financing law changes – Watch

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Mozambique: Parliament approves money laundering, terror financing law changes – Watch

7:09 CAT | 18 Mar 2024

Screen grab: Assembleia da Republica de Moçambique

The Mozambican parliament on Friday approved by consensus the revision of the law on preventing and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, with the aim of “promoting transparency, efficiency and security in the national financial sector”.

The changes, approved at the first reading, committee stage and final debate by the three benches of parliament, are part of the efforts that Mozambique is making to get off the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said the minister of the economy and finance, Max Tonela, who presented the document in parliament.

Tonela said that this is “another step towards protecting national interests and the integrity of the international financial system”.

“This revision aims to make the provisions clearer and easier to apply and to guarantee their effective implementation,” said Tonela.

MP João Chacuama, from the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), defended the pertinence of revising the law, justifying the fact that the state has reinforced instruments for combating money laundering and terrorism.

“The fight against these scourges is not done individually, but through collective action with other countries,” said Chacuama.

For his part, Arnaldo Chalaua, a member of parliament for the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, defended the importance of implementing the country’s commitments, pointing out that the approval of legal instruments is not enough.

“It’s an extremely important law, because Mozambique is not on an island, but the other component has to do with what happens in practice, in terms of applying the law,” he said.

The one-off revision was aimed more at questions of form than content in the law on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which was approved last August by parliament following recommendations from the FATF.

The text approved in August advocates simplified measures for identifying and verifying money laundering and terrorist financing risks by financial and non-financial entities.

The amendments also introduce specific financial penalties for terrorism.

As part of the fight against this type of crime, Mozambique will now oblige companies to declare their owners, a step considered essential to remove the country from the international money laundering grey list.

“It will oblige companies to declare their owners, which was not the case before. In public limited companies the owner didn’t appear, the owner was omitted,” Luís Abel Cezerilo, the national coordinator to remove the country from the grey list, told Lusa in September.

“The owner could set up several companies and they would never appear, and from the point of view of accountability they wouldn’t appear. International money transfers by the companies created don’t appear, and other illicit or licit acts (…). Now it’s going to force that person to be declared,” explained Luís Abel Cezerilo.