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Samoa Fails to Meet International Anti-Terrorism Financing Standards

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A recent evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has revealed that Samoa has failed to fully comply with international standards aimed at preventing the financing of terrorism.

FATF Report Highlights Samoa’s Deficiencies

The FATF report assessed Samoa’s compliance with 40 recommendations designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The evaluation found that Samoa is only partially compliant with a significant number of these requirements.

Risk Assessment and National Cooperation

Samoa was found to be lacking in its efforts to assess risk and apply a risk-based approach to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (R.1). Additionally, the country was criticized for failing to implement effective national cooperation and coordination mechanisms (R.2).

Laws and Regulations

The report highlighted deficiencies in Samoa’s laws and regulations aimed at preventing money laundering (R.3) and terrorist financing (R.5). Furthermore, the country’s confiscation and provisional measures were found to be inadequate (R.4).

Targeted Financial Sanctions and Non-Profit Organizations

Samoa was also found to have failed to fully implement targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing (R.6), as well as those related to proliferation (R.7). The country’s laws and regulations on non-profit organizations were also criticized for being insufficient (R.8).

Progress Made, but Deficiencies Remain

The report noted that Samoa has made some progress in implementing certain recommendations, including those related to customer due diligence (R.10) and record keeping (R.11). However, these efforts have been largely offset by the country’s failures in other areas.

Call to Action for Samoa

The FATF evaluation highlights the need for Samoa to take immediate action to address its deficiencies and bring its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime into line with international standards.