Financial Crime World

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Mauritania’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Framework: Areas for Improvement

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has conducted an assessment of Mauritania’s AML/CFT regime, highlighting several deficiencies and areas for improvement. This article summarizes the key points from the report.

Money Laundering (ML)

Mauritania faces significant challenges in combating money laundering. The following are some of the key issues:

Lack of Convictions and Investigations

  • Only a small number of investigations have been conducted by investigative authorities.
  • There are no convictions for ML crimes.

Inadequate Sanctions

  • Sanctions imposed on natural or legal persons are not proportionate, dissuasive, or effective.

Mechanism to Identify and Prosecute ML Activities

  • Authorities do not have a mechanism to identify and prosecute ML activities.

Financing of Terrorism (TF)

Mauritania also faces challenges in combating the financing of terrorism. The following are some of the key issues:

Lack of Competent Authority

  • Mauritania has no competent authority or mechanism for implementing SC Resolution 1373.

Deficiencies in Identifying TF Crimes

  • Despite some efficiency in identifying TF crimes, there are still many deficiencies faced by Mauritania at this level.

Insufficient Statistics on Investigation and Prosecution

  • The country lacks sufficient statistics on investigation and prosecution of TF crimes.

General Deficiencies

Mauritania faces several technical deficiencies in the implementation of SC resolutions related to financing terrorism or weapons proliferation. These include:

  • Entities are not implementing SC resolutions.
  • The criterion for designating persons domestically is unclear.
  • There are no approved mechanisms for submitting requests related to SC Resolution 1373.

Non-Profit Organizations

Mauritania has taken some steps to prevent the misuse of non-profit organizations in TF, but significant aspects are absent. These include:

  • The country lacks a risk assessment process to identify organizations exposed to TF risks.
  • There is no mechanism for identifying and monitoring suspicious transactions involving non-profit organizations.

Conclusion

Overall, the report suggests that Mauritania needs to strengthen its AML/CFT framework by addressing these deficiencies and implementing effective measures to combat ML and TF. This will require significant effort and resources, but it is essential to prevent the misuse of financial systems for illicit activities.