Financial Crime World

Tunisia Takes Step Forward in Combating Financial Crime

The Tunisian government has made a significant move towards combating financial crime with the implementation of Law 2003-75. This law aims to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing by requiring financial institutions to adopt anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) practices and programs.

Key Provisions

The law introduces several key provisions aimed at preventing financial crime:

  • Financial Institutions’ Obligations: Financial institutions are required to adopt AML/CFT practices and programs, establishing internal controls and procedures for monitoring customer transactions.
  • Reporting Mechanism: A mechanism is established for reporting suspicious or unusual transactions. Financial institutions must report such transactions to the Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT) or other designated authorities.
  • Suspension and Freezing of Transactions: The CBT has been granted the power to suspend and freeze transactions deemed suspicious, and forward reports of suspicious activity to the public prosecutor’s department.

Concerns and Next Steps

While the law is seen as a positive step towards combating financial crime, some experts have raised concerns about its implementation:

  • Confusion and Ambiguity: The reporting mechanism presents difficulties, with no distinction made between unusual operations and suspicious operations.
  • High Operational Risk: Automatic suspension and freezing of transactions can create high operational risk, preventing the necessary collection of additional information at both national and international levels.

To address these concerns, officials are committed to:

  • Clarifying Notions of Unusual Transaction and Suspicious Transaction: Efforts will be made to clarify the notions of unusual transaction and suspicious transaction.
  • Elimination of Automatic Suspension and Freezing: In favor of a more targeted approach, automatic suspension and freezing will be eliminated.

The effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime will be closely monitored and evaluated as Tunisia continues to implement the new regulations.