US Applauds FATF Action

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

05 November 2001

Following Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's call for the Financial Action Task Force to set 'new international standards, the US Treasury Under-Secretary, Jimmy Gurule, has praised the multilateral body's actions.

The FATF held an emergency session in Washington last week, and agreed upon proposals to crack down on 'alternative' remittance systems such as the informal anonymous Islamic banking system of hawala, the strengthening of identification requirements for wire transfers, and tighter checks on charities, to ensure that they are not being as a cover for terrorist finances.

Mr Gurule praised the actions of the FATF on Wednesday, saying that the organisation had 'charted new territory', and that the decisions made at the plenary meeting had the potential to save thousands of lives.

When questioned about the potential sanctions which could be taken against countries deemed uncooperative in the international fight against terrorist money laundering, Mr Gurule hinted that the procedure would likely resemble the FATF's previous 'name and shame' campaign, and revealed that the threat of public exposure had motivated a number of countries to come forward and offer their support to the international campaign. He also added that non-compliance might result in 'economic consequences', although he did not elaborate further on this.

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