Nauru Considers Anti-Money Laundering Measures

Mary Swire, Tax-news.com, Hong Kong

15 March 2001

Tiny offshore financial centre Nauru, in the South Pacific Ocean, has said that it will consider introducing measures to crack down on money laundering, finally bowing to pressure from the OECD and FATF to clean up its offshore sector or else risk sanctions.

The attacks on Nauru do not stop there. The island has been accused by the US of laundering billions of dollars of Russian mafia money through its offshore banks, which number more than 400. The Russian Central Bank has also pointed an accusing finger at the island's financial institutions.

Nauru's Minister for Industry and Economic Development, Kinza Clodumar, believes that the OECD is out to shut down the country's financial services sector and said recent talks between the OECD and offshore centres - which Nauru attended - were "inflexible" and were "all one way."

Mr Clodumar said that Nauru did not have much time to act, given that the deadline for making improvements is set for July, by which time the OECD and FATF will have re-assessed their respective blacklists. He said the Nauru parliament would consider a series of anti-money laundering measures when it resumes at the end of March.

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