AFP: A key global anti-corruption body has blacklisted eight countries for alleged money laundering and terrorism financing and called for sanctions against Iran, the US government said Friday. WASHINGTON (AFP) — A key global anti-corruption body has blacklisted eight countries for alleged money laundering and terrorism financing and called for sanctions against Iran, the US government said Friday.
The Financial Action Task Force has "identified eight countries that have strategic… deficiencies in alleged money laundering and terrorism financing," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The FATF, an inter-governmental body aimed at countering illicit financial transactions that could be used to promote terrorism, has named Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Turkmenistan for posing "a risk to the international financial system."
The US Treasury welcomed "the FATF statements this week identifying countries with strategic deficiencies in the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
"We also welcome FATF's renewed call today for its members and all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures to protect their financial sectors from the money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Iran."
The 35-member FATF, which includes the European Commission and the Gulf Co-operation Council, singled out the Islamic republic for sanctions.
Iran "is subject to a FATF call on its members and other jurisdictions to apply countermeasures to protect the international financial system from the ongoing and substantial money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from the jurisdiction," the FATF said in a statement.
The task force said that Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia and North Korea "have not committed to an action plan developed with the FATF to address key deficiencies."
Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Turkmenistan have not addressed deficiencies "previously publicly identified by the FATF."
The FATF secretariat is based at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum of industrialized nations.
