FATF lauds India's anti-money laundering, terror financing measures
Sep 19, 2024
Synopsis
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has praised India's efforts in combating money laundering and terror financing, urging faster prosecutions in financial fraud cases. The report highlights the need for improvements in prosecution and protection of the non-profit sector from exploitation by terrorist groups.
The global anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), on Thursday released its evaluation report on India, commending the country's systems to tackle the menace of money laundering and terror financing. It also urged India to expedite its prosecutions in financial fraud cases.
The 368-page report was released after the Paris-based organization approved the assessment during its June plenary session.
The previous evaluation of India's measures against money laundering and terror financing was published in 2010. India's next assessment is set for 2031.
This latest report, which follows a visit by FATF experts to India last November, categorizes the country in the "regular follow-up" group, a classification shared by only four other G20 countries.
The report acknowledged that India has developed an effective anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) framework in many respects.
However, it stressed that "major improvements" are necessary to strengthen prosecution efforts in money laundering and terror financing cases.
Furthermore, the report pointed out the need for enhancements to protect the non-profit sector from potential exploitation for terrorism.
"India's main sources of money laundering originate from within, from illegal activities committed within country," it said, adding the country faced "disparate" range of terror threats, most significantly from ISIL (Islamic State or ISIS) or AQ-linked groups (Al Qaeda) active in and around Jammu and Kashmir.
The report analyses the level of compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations and the level of effectiveness of India's AML/CFT system, and provides recommendations on how the system can be strengthened.
[The Economic Times]
