Doha: The private sector is a key partner in battling money laundering and terrorist financing, and ensuring the effective implementation of international standards, said Qatar Central Bank (QCB)’s Supervision Assistant Governor, Hamad Ahmad Al Mulla on Monday.
This came in an inaugural speech at the 9th Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) Typologies and Capacity Building Workshop, as part of the implementations of the decisions of the 37th MENAFATF plenary meeting in December 2023 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The workshop will continue for four days until October 10.
Al Mulla said the MENA countries face complex patterns of money laundering and terrorist financing, which undermines the efforts of their governments to combat them, makes the measures they take against them less effective, and poses challenges that require applications to understand them.
This workshop is a good opportunity to exchange experiences in order to better understand the different and advanced methods
used for money laundering and financing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons, and to provide decision-makers and policy experts with practical information to develop strategies to combat these challenges and to be able to address them efficiently, Al Mulla added.
He hailed the role of civil society institutions that contribute significantly and effectively to promoting effective policies and practices to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and enhancing the safety and security of the global financial system.
These institutions include think tanks ranging from those associated with high academic or scientific activities to those with an explicit ideology that pushes for specific policies.
For his part, Secretary of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and Head of MENAFATF’s Technical Assistance and Applications Team, Issa Mohammed Al Hardan stressed the importance of the workshop and the State of Qatar hosting it, which stems from its awareness of t
he role of applications and studying trends and patterns in raising the effectiveness of the system for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of the proliferation of weapons.
He pointed out that research into the patterns of money laundering and terrorist financing includes studying the methods, techniques and trends used in these two fields, which enhances the comprehensive understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing environment.
Al Hardan added that this workshop will enable bringing together experts from financial intelligence units, law enforcement, and financial and non-financial regulatory bodies to exchange expertise and raise awareness of the need for national cooperation, with the private sector participating in discussions related to capacity building.
He added that the application framework is based on the process of collecting and analyzing information and individual case studies. The application and capacity building workshop will also focus on eme
rging threats, especially the violation, non-implementation or evasion of the application of targeted financial sanctions related to the financing of terrorism, the financing of the proliferation of weapons, and the exploitation of the lawyers, notaries and accountants sector in money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
With regard to capacity building, particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of technology and data analysis systems in detecting money laundering and terrorist financing, and on the role of civil society in enhancing the effectiveness of parallel financial investigations.
Al Hardan explained that the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing attaches utmost importance to this aspect within the framework of implementing the measures recommended in the Mutual Evaluation Report for the State of Qatar issued in May 2023, and its continuous work to align its legislation with the latest amendments to Recommendations 24 and 25 of the Financial Actio
n Task Force recommendations.
Source: Qatar News Agency
