Mauritius Faces Scrutiny over Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Concerns

Mauritius is under international scrutiny following its inclusion in the European Commission (EC) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) lists of high-risk jurisdictions. The twin designations came after evaluations outlined strategic deficiencies in Mauritius’ anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) framework.

FATF Grey Listing

Mauritius was added to FATF’s grey list in October 2019 following a Mutual Evaluation Report by the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) ¹. The report identified Several key deficiencies:

Supervision and Risk Assessment

• Lack of effective risk-based supervision of the global business sector and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).
• Insufficient supervision of non-profit organizations, which may be exploited for terrorist financing.

challenges in Mauritius

Law Enforcement and Investigative Capabilities

• Deficiencies in the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct complex money laundering investigations, including financial investigations in parallel.

Basic and Beneficiary Ownership Information

• Failure to ensure timely and accurate access to basic and beneficial ownership information by competent authorities.

Financial Sanctions Implementation

• Inadequate implementation of targeted financial sanctions, despite outreach and supervision efforts.

Mauritius has responded by introducing a draft bill, The Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, for review in Parliament ². This legislation aims to address the identified deficiencies.

Urgent Need for Action

Mauritius has been urged to quickly address these areas and strengthen its financial regulatory measures. By doing so, it aims to mitigate the risk of money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

For more details, register to download our comprehensive summary on Mauritius’ progress in addressing the challenges and strengthening its AML/CTF framework.