Morocco Races to Strengthen Anti-Money Laundering Laws to Avoid FATF Blacklist

Before the Commission on Justice, Legislation and Human Rights in the first Chamber, on Wednesday, April 22, the Minister of Justice presented two bills, including bill no. 12-18 amending and supplementing the penal code and law no. 43.05 on the fight against money laundering. Mohamed Ben Abdelkader stressed the urgency surrounding the adoption of this bill. This will allow Morocco to respect its international commitments on the one hand and to avoid the gray or black list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on the other.

Last April, the FATF had drawn up an evaluation report on Morocco. It had evaluated the kingdom’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) mechanisms. The group had made some recommendations that the country will have to implement before the next evaluation report.

The adoption of bill no. 12.18 will make it possible to implement some of the recommendations contained in the said report. This, in order to upgrade the Moroccan regulatory framework on this issue, which closely links the fight against money laundering to the fight against the financing of terrorism.

During the presentation of the main contributions of this bill, the Minister of Justice mentioned the creation of a national financial intelligence institution as well as the establishment of a legal mechanism for the application of the sanctions enacted by the United Nations Security Council in the field of financial crimes, money laundering and terrorist financing. The bill will strengthen the national AML/CFT and financial intelligence system, reports EcoActu.