Morocco Added to FATF ’Gray List’ for Anti-Money Laundering Oversight

Announced on February 25, Morocco, Burkina Faso, the Cayman Islands, Senegal and other countries are currently on the list of countries under close surveillance. But, unlike the blacklist which includes Iran and North Korea, being on the FATF gray list is not synonymous with non-compliance with the standards put in place by the group, but that the countries under intense surveillance are committed to improving their systems to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Thus, "as stated in the FATF public statement, the Kingdom of Morocco has politically committed at the highest level in February 2021 to work with the FATF and MENAFATF to strengthen the effectiveness of its system to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The same statement also specifies that since the adoption of its Mutual Evaluation Report in 2019, Morocco has made progress on the shortcomings that came up in said report, in order to improve technical compliance and effectiveness, in particular by coordinating the activities and objectives of all competent authorities in the field of AML/CFT," explained the Minister of Justice, to Medias24.

Approved by the UN, the World Bank, the IMF and all international bodies, the 40 FATF recommendations define the main measures that countries should adopt to better combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In this sense, Morocco has adopted several measures, the latest of which, dated November 25, 2019, concerns a new draft law aimed at revising the definition of money laundering and increasing current sanctions. Two points on which the FATF is inviting Morocco to work.

Although the project is not yet in force due to a legislative delay, its examination will resume as soon as the next parliamentary session and its entry into force will allow Morocco to succeed in the next FATF review and to get out of this gray list, concludes Ben Abdelkader.