RI hailed for making progress

RI hailed for making progress

Agence France-Presse, Stockholm

An international list of nine nations seen as slack on money- laundering remained unchanged after a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) here, but two countries, Indonesia and Ukraine, were hailed as having made progress, FATF president Claes Norgren said.

"Progress has been registered" in Indonesia, and to a lesser degree in Ukraine, he said.

FATF was created in 1989 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to fight dirty money and has since the Sept. 11 attacks also worked to stamp out the flow of funds to extremist organizations.

The nine countries on the uncooperative list are Ukraine, the Cook Islands, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria and the Philippines.

"We have invited Indonesia to submit an implementation plan to enable the FATF to evaluate the actual implementation of the recent reforms," Norgren said.

The situation for the Ukraine appeared more complex, but FATF leaders expressed confidence after noting a political willingness to cooperate.

Meanwhile, the situation worsened for Myanmar.

It was given until Nov. 3 to present mutual legal assistance legislation to parliament and issue comprehensive rules and regulations for anti-money laundering legislation.

Only the Pacific island state of Nauru is currently subjected to such "additional countermeasures", under which the nation's financial institutions are required to identify their clients and report any suspicions of money-laundering.

"This means that all transactions from Nauru are in principle considered suspect," FATF executive secretary Patrick Moulette said, indicating that the same fate now awaited Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the FATF removed Israel and Lebanon from the list of countries under observation.

The two were taken off the uncooperative list in June 2002.

The FATF's next review of that list is scheduled for February 2004.