US Treasury Commends FATF

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

26 June 2001

Following the recent announcement made by the FATF updating its international blacklist, the US Treasury has issued a press release stating its support for the multilateral countermeasures approved against Russia, The Philippines and Nauru over their lack of cooperation in the global fight against tax fraud and money laundering.

'The Treasury Department supports countermeasures against countries refusing to implement constructive legal reforms to address ongoing money laundering concerns,' said the release. However, Treasury Secretary Paul O' Neill was full of praise for the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, and Panama, all of which had successfully worked to have themselves removed from the blacklist, and called the results achieved by the effort 'dramatic'. 'We applaud the legal reforms made by these countries,' he said on Friday. 'These improvements are a testament to the effectiveness of international cooperation in combating money laundering, and I'm optimistic that the FATF process will generate further progress.'

The Treasury urged all of the seventeen countries which remain on the blacklist (which contains six new additions) to act swiftly to implement reform, and said that the US intended to update its advice to financial institutions as necessary to reflect the FATF findings. It added that no measures would be taken against Russia, the Philippines and Nauru if they adopted reforms by September 30th. However, if the blacklisted countries fail to make improvements to their regulatory regimes by the deadline, they could face sanctions including enhanced surveillance and reporting.

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