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.