International Body Says Lebanon Meets Anti-money Laundering Conditions

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has stressed that Lebanon meets all the necessary conditions for fighting money laundering, Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh said Monday.

FATF, a 32-nation body established in 1989, sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

FATF said at a plenary meeting it held in Paris last week that Lebanon “meets legally and in practice all the required conditions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing,” Salameh told As Safir daily.

FATF called on government financial intelligence agencies to give extra scrutiny to transactions and business relationships involving Iran and North Korea.

It also welcomed efforts by Algeria, Angola and Panama to tighten their anti-money laundering precautions. But it said it still assessed that there are "strategic deficiencies" in the anti-money laundering efforts of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guyana, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Syria, Uganda, Vanuatu and Yemen.

Seven countries, including Lebanon, no longer needed follow up or new measures, it said.

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