Morocco Intensifies Crackdown on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Spontaneous suspicious transaction reports, particularly from banks and financial institutions, have increased by 10.93%, reports the newspaper L’Économiste. At the same time, the national authorities have stepped up their requests for information as part of financial investigations, with an increase of 30.82%. The number of files transmitted to the justice system by the ANRF has also increased considerably, by 31.48%.

In total, 5,777 suspicious transaction reports were recorded by the Authority in 2023. The vast majority of them, or 5,739, concern money laundering cases. Only 38 cases are related to the financing of terrorism.

The ANRF report shows the central role of banks in the detection of suspicious operations. "Conventional banks, offshore banks and participatory banks are at the top of the providers of suspicious transaction reports, with a share of 44.8%," the document states. Payment and money transfer institutions also play an important role, with nearly 20% of the reports.

The ANRF also received 48 spontaneous information communications in 2023, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. This information, which comes in particular from the public prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Exchange Office, contributes to enriching the investigations conducted by the Authority.

In 2023, the ANRF transmitted 71 files to the justice system, mainly to the public prosecutor’s offices of Rabat, Casablanca, Fez and Marrakech. These files contain sufficient evidence of money laundering or terrorist financing to justify the opening of legal proceedings.