Commonwealth Leaders Vow To Tighten Money Laundering Laws

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

07 March 2002

Commonwealth leaders on Tuesday announced their commitment to ensuring that all 54 of the Commonwealth member countries implement tighter legislation on money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion.

Following a four day summit, the organisation said that it would be monitoring its members' progress, and promised to take 'concerted and resolute action to eradicate terrorism'.

This action, it was decided at the meeting, will include the provision of assistance to several of the smaller Caribbean and Pacific havens which lack the capacity to produce domestic legislation to ensure compliance with international standards. The Commonwealth Secretariat will prepare model legislation for smaller member states, and will also provide assistance on compliance with FATF recommendations.

The announcement that the OECD has granted them a stay of execution following appeals by OECD members New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and Canada will come as a great relief to Commonwealth member countries Dominica, Grenada, Nigeria, and St Kitts and Nevis, which all remain on the multilateral organisation's blacklist.

However, it emerged this week that the deadline for compliance has not been extended for Nauru, which has been deemed to have failed to effectively begin moves to tighten legislation.

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