Discussion held on combating terror financing

Paris: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) discussed the mutual evaluation report of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems in the Sultanate of Oman during the group’s meeting held in Paris from October 21 to 25, 2024.

The general meeting of the group commended the positive steps and efforts taken by the Sultanate of Oman that contributed to the development of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing system over the past years, along with the great technical commitment in terms of the compatibility of the legislation and procedures taken by the relevant authorities with the international standards issued by the group.

For example, the group commended the efforts made regarding the use of financial information for investigation and inquiry purposes, international cooperation in aspects related to legal and judicial assistance, combating and prosecuting terrorism financing crimes, and implementing targeted financial sanctions related to combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

For his part, in a speech delivered during the group’s general meeting, Tahir Salim Al Amri,, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman and Chairman of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, stressed the high-level attention paid by the Sultanate of Oman, which led to the development of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing system that operates according to the tasks assigned to it at the national level, benefiting from the results of the national risk assessments for the years 2018 and 2023.

The system enables it to stand with the rest of the world’s countries to contribute to protecting the global financial system from exploitation by criminals, he said.

He stressed that the Sultanate of Oman is moving forward in developing the system for combating money laundering and terrorist financing crimes in line with the updates to international standards, in accordance with the national strategies and action plans approved by the Sultanate of Oman that enable it to uncover, prosecute and confiscate the funds of the perpetrators of these crimes.

As the mutual evaluation process is a joint process between the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), the report will be discussed and approved during the general meeting in mid-November before being published in its final form in early December. -ONA