(4 Minutes Read) (Global)
Kenya was put on the grey list by the Finance Action Task Force (FATF), the watchdog for preventing money laundering and terrorism funding.
The IMF and Western allies will help Kenya in addressing deficiencies in its rules and regulations to deal with threats of money laundering and terrorism financing. It may be recalled that the Finance Action Task Force (FATF) put Kenya on the grey list, the watchdog for preventing money laundering and terrorism funding.
This was revealed by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u at the National Assembly’s Debt and Privatisation Committee recently. He told the committee that bilateral and multilateral donors have committed to assisting Kenya to escape the situation manipulated by vested interests and anti-socials. He told the national assembly that bilateral and multilateral organizations had expressed their support to help the country come out of the grey list by effectively combating money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; Prof Ndung’u said.
The organizations that have lent support in capacity building in the existing organizations of Kenya are the IMF), the World Bank, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, and the United States. They promised to support strengthening institutions, including the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC).
Kenya was placed on the list of shame along with 23 other countries, subjecting them to enhanced monitoring to ensure compliance with international anti-money laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (CPF). The downgrade also means Kenya might be subjected to stricter due diligence when it is dealing with the rest of the world. However, the cabinet secretary assured the members of the National Assembly that the placement would not impact Kenya’s credit ratings as the country had already made amendments to the law to strengthen its fight against dirty money and only needed to implement them.
Prof Ndung’u said Kenya has not implemented all amendments to the anti-money laundering laws as approved by Parliament. The FATF flagged Kenya, a financial hub in the region, as a regional hub for illicit gold as well as a transit for drug and wildlife traffickers, with law firms, casinos, and real estate agents being highlighted as some of the enablers of money laundering.
Importantly, Uganda was removed from the list following recommendations of FATF’s fifth plenary meeting. However, Kenya joined Tanzania and South Sudan in the grey list. Other African countries on the list include Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Namibia and Cameroon. In 2010, FATF placed Kenya on a list of high-risk countries for delays in enacting laws to tackle criminal financial activity as well as a failure to track money laundering. It was removed from the list four years later.
FATF’s lists point out that the country’s effectiveness in combating financial crimes like corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing is below international standards.
The Grey List is a list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring. These countries have committed to address strategic deficiencies regarding money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing in an agreed period and are subject to increased monitoring.
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https://trendsnafrica.com/uae-concludes-comprehensive-partnership-agreement-with-kenya/
The FATF blacklist outlines ‘ high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action. These are countries or jurisdictions that have serious deficiencies in countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation. As of February 2024, only the Democratic Republic of North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar are mentioned in the FATF blacklist, which are countries subject to a Call for Action.
