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Mexico Makes Progress in Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its fourth enhanced follow-up report on Mexico’s progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The report highlights significant improvements made by the country in addressing technical compliance deficiencies, resulting in an upgrade of two key recommendations.
Improvements in Case Management System
According to the report, Mexico has made substantial progress in improving its case management system for mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests. This enables the timely implementation and follow-up of such requests. The country has also established clear criteria for prioritizing MLA requests, taking into account their urgency and complexity.
Enhancements in Process for Identifying and Confiscating Proceeds of Crime
Additionally, Mexico’s authorities have developed a formal memorandum outlining the criteria for executing MLA requests, including the ability to defer rather than refuse assistance if it may hamper ongoing investigations or judicial proceedings. These improvements have led to an upgrade of Recommendation 37 from “partially compliant” to “compliant”.
Similarly, Mexico has made significant progress in improving its processes for identifying, freezing, seizing, and confiscating proceeds of crime. The country’s legislation now requires the execution of MLA requests to be carried out as soon as possible, with utmost diligence. This has led to an upgrade of Recommendation 38 from “partially compliant” to “compliant”.
Challenges in Improving Technical Compliance
However, Mexico still faces challenges in improving its technical compliance with Recommendation 32, which relates to false declarations and sanctions for such offenses. Despite efforts to address this issue, the country’s authorities have not made sufficient progress, resulting in a rating of “partially compliant” for this recommendation.
Overall Progress
Overall, the FATF has re-rated Mexico’s technical compliance with the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards as follows:
- 14 recommendations: Compliant
- 6 recommendations: Largely Compliant
- 2 recommendations: Partially Compliant
- 18 recommendations: Non-Compliant
Mexico will continue to be subject to enhanced follow-up and is required to report back to the FATF on its progress in implementing AML/CFT measures by June 2023.