Jordan Receives EU Support in Combating Money Laundering and Terror Financing
The European Union’s Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) concluded a four-day scoping mission to Jordan over the weekend. The visit was part of the Global Facility’s ongoing technical assistance to Jordan, which aims to support all competent authorities in their efforts to prevent money laundering and combat terrorist financing.
Ongoing Technical Assistance
The initiative started in November 2020 and has already delivered 13 one-week e-training courses to over 214 participants since June 2021. The topics covered in these courses include:
- AML/CFT investigations
- Terrorist financing
- Financial intelligence
- Virtual assets
- Financial Intelligence Unit operational analysis work stream
- Ultimate Beneficial Ownership
- Judiciary
Strong and Lasting Collaboration
According to David Hotte, team leader of the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT, “This is just the start of a strong and long-lasting collaboration. Considering what we have managed to do during the difficult times of COVID-19, there is a very promising future for our partnership.”
New Draft AML/CFT Law
The mission comes as Jordan’s Lower House recently approved a new draft AML/CFT law in response to the 2019 Mutual Evaluation Report on the implementation of AML/CFT standards. The report deemed Jordan “compliant for four and largely compliant for 15 of the FATF 40 Recommendations”.
About the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT
Established in 2017 by the European Commission, the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT aims to support third countries in their efforts to prevent money laundering and cut off access to funding for individual terrorists and terrorist organisations. The project is financed by the Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) and implemented by Expertise France, in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas.
Importance of Sustaining AML/CFT Regime
Chief of the AML Unit in Jordan, Samya Abu Sharif, stressed the importance of sustaining the enhancement of the AML/CFT regime in Jordan and ensuring compliance with international standards. “Promoting this cooperation with the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT and conducting training courses and programme activities will certainly positively reflect on the development of our AML/CFT regime,” she said.