Qatar setting up centre to combat money laundering

27/04/2016 07:35 AST

Qatar is working on setting up a specialised centre to combat money laundering and shady funding. The centre will work towards raising awareness among all stakeholders in this field.

“We are in the process of establishing a specialised training centre to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in order to raise awareness and raise the level of operation of different stakeholders locally, regionally and globally in combating these crimes,” said Minister of Finance H E Ali Sherif Al Emadi, speaking at the 23rd meeting of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) held here yesterday.

He added that Qatar’s efforts in combating money laundering and terrorist financing has resulted in its selection as the headquarters of the office of the regional expert at the Arab Monetary Funds’ special fund for enhancing member states’ capacities in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

The minister said Qatar’s commitment to combat money laundering and terrorism financing is based on the country’s vision to secure peace around the world. Based on international law and principle of equality, Qatar has shown the world refusal of terrorism in all its aspects.

“We believe that combating and eradicating these cross border and trans-national crimes require coordinated efforts to come up with flexible and unified policy that can be easily implemented regionally and internationally,” said the Minister.

He said combating the crimes of money laundering and terrorism financing has become a global priority in recent years due to its negative effect on people and on the financial stability and security of countries. It requires a great deal of cooperation and coordination, as the fight against these crimes is no longer a local matter confined to the borders of a state, but has become a goal of the international community as a whole.

During the last few years technological advancements were witnessed, especially in banking sector. Criminal networks and terrorist groups around the world exploit and use these developments, specially weaknesses in the international monetary and financial systems to perpetrate crimes of money laundering and terrorism financing, added the minister.

Sheikh Fahad bin Faisal Al Thani, Deputy Governor - Qatar Central Bank, who is also Chairman of the National Anti- Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Committee (NAMLC) and President of MENAFATF, said that MENAFATF has succeeded in improving its international position by participating in all events and forums and effectively contributing to the international AML/CFT efforts.

He added that as a result of the growing terrorist activities by the extremist groups that threaten the economic stability, social and political security in the MENA region, the MENAFATF, in cooperation with the FATF and a number of international and national authorities, worked closely to enhance the AML/ CFT efforts, in the past two years.

The Peninsula