Fighting money laundering, only remedy for economic corruption

EghtesadOnline: Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Tayyebnia said fighting money laundering was the only way to overcome economic corruption.

News ID: ۷۶۹۸۰۳

27 September 2016

Tayyebnia made the remarks while addressing the Majlis (Parliament) open session on here on Tuesday morning, reports IRNA.

The minister is in Majlis to brief the parliamentarians on Iran's cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He said encountering money laundering measures will prevent attempts for tax avoidance and help identify cases of trafficking of commodities.

By combatting money laundering, it would be possible to block the flow of financial support to the terrorist groups, the minister stressed.

Noting that international terrorist groups like Daesh, the al-Qaeda and the Taliban have devised financial networks active in different parts of the world, he said the only way to fight against them is taking anti-money-laundering measures.

The FATF issued a statement on June 24, 2016, suspending Iran in the list of its uncooperative countries. This came as the result of numerous actions taken by the Iranian government, parliament and judiciary in the past few years like adopting laws against financing terrorism and other actions which legally bounded Iran to take action to eliminate shortcomings of the body's existing anti-money laundering policies and its decision to seek assistance with implementation.

According to the FATF (the independent body responsible for setting global standards for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT)), Iran will remain on the body's blacklist until the full implementation is complete. Moreover, if it fails to demonstrate 'sufficient progress' at the end of the yearlong suspension, the restrictions will be re-imposed.