ESWATINI’S RISK OF BEING GREYLISTED LINGERS ON

LOBAMBA – The risk of being greylisted still lingers, as Eswatini currently meets only 14 of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) recommendations.

The country urgently needs to meet the rest to avert greylisting. The FATF Recommendations set out a comprehensive and consistent framework of measures that countries should implement in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Yesterday, Registrar of Companies Msebe Malinga told members of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Trade portfolio committee during their workshop on the proposed Companies Bill.

Recommendations

The workshop was held yesterday in Parliament. Malinga told the Members of Parliament (MP) it was important for the country to meet the remaining recommendations; otherwise, the country would be greylisted. He said therefore with the Bills that they were pushing into Parliament to be passed into Acts; they were attempting to address those remaining recommendations. He said these Bills include the Companies Bill and the Omnibus that is with the Ministry of Finance encompassing five Acts in it. “We do not want the country to get into greylisting because coming out of that is very costly,” he said.

The registrar revealed that the country was running out of time to meet, the recommendations, as next month the country will be due review and ratings in terms of its efforts to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. He said the country was now at a second enhanced follow-up time. He said by the end of October the required laws should have been passed and submitted to the relevant international bodies. He said the country was supposed to be reassessed to determine what has been done to meet the recommendations.

Malinga said it was for that reason they were lobbying for the MPs to assist them in seeing the Bills passed before the end of the year. It is worth noting, since its last assessment in February 2010, Eswatini’s AML/CFT regime has undergone notable reforms.This includes strengthening of the legal and institutional frameworks for combating ML and TF. The country amended the MLTFP Act, 2011, which is the primary law dealing with AML/CTF, to broadly criminalise ML in line with the Palermo and Vienna Conventions. Eswatini also introduced regulations intended to implement targeted financial sanctions on TF.

Coordination

The Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) core functions, which were previously performed by the Central Bank, are currently performed by an independent and autonomous FIU located in a different office premises. Eswatini has also established and constituted a National Task Force comprising of the Council and Technical Committee, intended to develop national AML/CFT policies and strategies, and to ensure their effective implementation. The country has undertaken an NRA which will enable it to develop policies and undertake national coordination informed by identified risks, although it is yet to be approved.

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