SOUTH AFRICA SHINES FATF SPOTLIGHT ON DEVELOPING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 001299 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS EB/ESC/TFS (DBROWN),S/CT (GNOVIS),INL/C, IO/PHO, TREASRUY (ICRUM),AF/S (MTABLER-STONE),INL/AAE (EROESS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN KFTN PTER ETTC PREL PGOV KCRM PINR SF SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA SHINES FATF SPOTLIGHT ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND CORRUPTION REF: 05 PRETORIA 2671 (NOTAL) (U) This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified. Not for Internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) demonstrated its commitment to Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) as observers during the February Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meetings in Cape Town. South Africa, as the current chair of the global AML/CFT organization, invited ESAAMLG to focus the FATF's attention on developing country challenges in fighting financial crimes. South Africa also emphasized the need to explore AML/CFT links to corruption and criticized the FATF's "Western-dominated" decision making process. South Africa plans to put corruption issues high on ESAAMLG's agenda for its next meeting. End Summary. Eastern and Southern African AML/CFT Commitment -------------- -- ¶2. (SBU) During the first ever Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary held in Africa, the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) expressed its commitment to Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). South Africa, as the current chair of the global AML/CFT organization, invited the fourteen ESAAMLG members to observe the February 12-17 meetings in Cape Town in efforts to strengthen ESAAMLG ties to the international AML/CFT community. The Zambian Deputy Minister of Finance, Kapambwe Simbao, stressed in his remarks that anti-money laundering and terrorism finance were global problems, as illustrated by the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the recent arrests of suspected terrorists in Zambia. Simbao made an appeal to FATF-member countries for capacity-building assistance in strengthening ESAAMLG's AML/CFT regimes. SAG Criticizes Western Dominance -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Throughout the week, the South African Government (SAG) criticized developed countries for dominating the FATF and elaborated on developing country challenges in complying with FATF standards. In his brief remarks to the plenary, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel encouraged the FATF to work outside the "comfort zone" of current membership and think about the challenges facing developing countries. He stated that many FATF standards were onerous for countries with cash-based economies. Kader Asmal, South Africa's FATF President, echoed Manuel's comments in his closing address, urging members to find a balance between the slowest and fastest countries when it came to complying with FATF standards. Asmal decried the "northern-dominated" process and beckoned for extreme sensitivity for "southern" countries. In a disjointed dinner address to the FATF, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni continued in the same vein when he expressed his displeasure with the fact that Western Union's headquarters were allowed to continue operations in "some large Western country" (i.e., the United States) after the company's operations in South Africa had to be shut down because of illegal activity. He went on to say that if this situation were reversed, South Africa would have been expected to shut down the company's headquarters. Daunting Challenges for Developing Countries -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The SAG and ESAAMLG used the FATF meeting to highlight the AML/CFT challenges that face developing countries. SARB Governor Mboweni spoke of South Africa's competing challenges in addition to financial crimes, including poverty, HIV/AIDS, housing backlogs, crime, and building a black business class. A Kenyan presenter, Mrs. Dorcas Odour, listed the challenges facing her country in terms of ethnic biases, border disputes, cash-based transactions, alternative remittance systems, lack of proper ID cards, and the competing demands of resources (e.g., hunger, AIDS). Mr. Dev Bikoo from Mauritius noted that many developing countries lacked the political will to move forward with AML/CFT efforts. ¶5. (SBU) Murray Michell, Director of South Africa's Financial PRETORIA 00001299 002 OF 002 Intelligence Centre (FIC),gave a more detailed presentation on the challenges that ESAAMLG faces in complying with the FATF standards. Michell specifically focused on FATF Special Recommendation IX dealing with measures to track cash movement across borders. He stated that each of the ESAAMLG countries, while at different stages of development, faced many similar challenges, such as a large number of cash-based transactions and informal banking systems. Michell also emphasized that most member countries had porous borders monitored by immigration and law enforcement agencies that were understaffed, poorly trained, and deprived of information technology. Moreover, many countries lacked proper legislation to prosecute AML/CFT crimes. Even where there was the political will to strengthen AML/CFT regimes, countries had to make critical budget choices involving such development and health challenges as alleviating poverty and combating the spread HIV/AIDS. A South African View of ESAAMLG -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Michell highlighted what in his view ESAAMLG had accomplished and contemplated its future role. He said that ESAAMLG had improved cooperation among the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Interpol. ESAAMLG had also established the Southern Africa Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCO) and had increased the presence of border police in the region. Michell questioned, however, whether developing countries should implement all 40 9 FATF standards at once. Perhaps it was more realistic for them to focus on priority areas first and phase-in compliance later. He also wondered whether there were enough sustainable resources available for ESAAMLG countries to attain and maintain FATF membership. Michell noted that ESAAMLG was building a strategy this year to assess the technical assistance needs of its member countries, and that this could be a guide for donor countries. Corruption Link to AML/CFT -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Since becoming FATF President in July 2005, Asmal has linked AML/CFT to corruption (reftel). Asmal bolstered this theme in February by authoring an article in a major South African business newspaper that focused attention on the close ties between money laundering and rampant corruption. During the FATF, Asmal publicly linked the terrorist bombings in Kenya and Tanzania to high levels of corruption there. Asmal's main argument, as presented by FIC Director Michell, is that good governance must be established before a country can fight financial crimes. Michell concluded that if governance and corruption issues were not addressed, then all AML/CFT assistance efforts would be for naught. For this reason, he explained, the SAG was pushing to have corruption issues high on the agenda at the next ESAAMLG meeting. TEITELBAUM