Iraq is far from being on the gray list, as revealed by the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Office.
Al-Sabah was informed by Hussein Al-Maqram, the Central Bank representative, that After the 14-month international team of experts’ mutual evaluation of Iraq’s technical commitment to the legal framework, regulations, instructions, and controls for combating money laundering and terrorist financing was completed, the following was added: In addition to the field visit, statistics and practical examples were used to demonstrate the extent to which the legislative framework was applied to the systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Al-Maqram continued by noting that “the initial results confirmed that the Republic of Iraq is far from being included in the grey list (enhanced monitoring), and an action plan and recommendations were formulated by international evaluators to ensure compliance with international standards” and that “the evaluation report was discussed and approved by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) last May.”
According to the Central Bank’s money laundering representative, “the office seeks to cooperate with the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Council, to apply international standards, and apply the risk-based approach,” “the office has automated its procedures for receiving reports through the (goAML) system, and completed the electronic link on this system with several parties.”
In addition, according to Al-Maqram, “the office supervises and follows up with all concerned parties to implement the strategic objectives of combating money laundering and terrorist financing for the years 2023-2027, while building updated, comprehensive, and confidential databases to meet international requirements, in addition to training employees of the public and private sectors to spread awareness of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.”
Al-Muqrim emphasized the “accreditation of a judge from the Judicial Council, as well as employees from the office and the Central Bank, as international resident experts with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) and (FATF) to benefit from that expertise and reflect it inside Iraq, to prepare for
