Indonesia, Thailand and Pakistan join money laundering blacklist

The FATF added Pakistan, Indonesia, and Thailand along with Ghana and Tanzania to its blacklist.

The Financial Action Task Force has found that those five countries were flaunting recommendations made to them toward fighting money-laundering and financing terrorism, its executive secretary, Rick McDonell, told journalists.

He explained that countries that wind up on the list have not implemented the standards.

The body can make recommendations to any of the 36 countries that have signed a membership charter, as well as other nations, but it has no power to carry out sanctions.

The FATF, whose recommendations reach more than 180 countries through regional networks, estimates that money laundering and related financial crimes cost between 2 percent and 5 percent of global gross domestic product.

In its report, the FATF also called on governments to consider tax evasion as a money-laundering offence.

The agency is also extending its focus to target the non-proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction.



The FATF blacklist now includes 17 countries. Aside from the five new ones, they are: Bolivia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, Syria and Turkey.

The grey-list of 22 countries incudes Asian countries Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.