FATF: South Africa joins the gray list, Morocco leaves it

The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) logo.

REUTERS - CHARLES PLATIAU

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which fights against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, placed South Africa as well as Nigeria on its gray list this week.

Morocco is leaving the FATF gray list.

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South Africa and Nigeria thus join some twenty other countries such as Syria, the DRC or even Mozambique which are also on the FATF gray list and which are subject to increased surveillance by the the intergovernmental body, which does not yet consider them to be " 

 " and to be blacklisted.

South Africa was also expecting this decision when the reforms have not been enough to go in recent months to raise the bar, says our correspondent in Johannesburg, Claire

.

The FATF had already pointed out, in a report last October, the weaknesses of the South African system in the fight against dirty money, with twenty of the forty criteria of the organization little or non-compliant.

According to this report, if the country does indeed have “ 

 ”, it is on the side of the application of the laws that the shoe pinches, with in particular “ 

.

»

Progress has been made since then, but it remains insufficient for the FATF, and the judicial investigations into money laundering or terrorist financing network cases are still too inconclusive, as is the recovery of assets, for lack of means and SKILLS.

Flaws that were particularly highlighted during the period of "capture

of the State 

 under the presidency of Jacob Zuma, a period during which the institutions supposed to monitor these transactions were a little more weakened.

In the long term, going on this gray list could deteriorate the business climate in the country and make it more complicated to obtain certain funds.

The government has until 2025 to apply the FATF recommendations.

Morocco leaves the gray list

The name of Morocco is officially no longer on the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force, indicates, for his part, our correspondent in Rabat,

.

It was also a decision eagerly awaited by the Moroccan authorities and economic powers.

At its last meeting, last October, the FATF had decided to keep Morocco on its gray list, which had caused great disappointment in the Cherifian business community.

However, a few months later, after having observed on the ground " 

 ", the institution this time decided, unanimously, to remove the kingdom from this famous list.

Since February 2021, the FATF has blamed Morocco for " 

 " in its control systems for the financing of terrorism and money laundering and had then indicated to the government eight recommendations to follow in order to comply with international regulations.

Two years later, the mission has been fulfilled by the Moroccan authorities who, after having been removed from the list of European Union tax havens in 2021, can now hope to obtain a better position on the international financial market, particularly with rating agencies.

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• South Africa

• Nigeria

• Morocco