Papua New Guinea Lauded for Reforms to deal with Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris has congratulated the Prime Minister,  Peter O’Neill for action taken through the Government’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.
The National Executive Council has now taken note of the endorsement of the Government’s actions by the FATF, the inter-governmental body that sets standards and monitors threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
PM O’Neill welcomed the decision by the FATF to remove Papua New Guinea from the list of countries that are monitored by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG).
“Papua New Guinea is committed to laying our part in preventing the misuse of financial systems by criminal elements,” the Prime Minister said.
“When the the FATF assessed the country's financial system in 2010 a series of serious deficiencies were identified in our Government’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combat the Financing of Terrorism regime.
“As a consequence our financial system was then subjected to a series of enhanced reviews and stringent reporting requirements.
“The reputation of Papua New Guinea was further undermined in the global financial community.
“Our Government has worked tirelessly to address and remove the deficiencies, and now the international community has been made aware that we meet global standards.
“Papua New Guinea will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism to prevent criminal activities from occurring in our country and around the region.
“I thank the FATF and the ICRG for the work they have carried out to asses and subsequently acknowledge the steps taken by Papua New Guinea to prevent criminal activities the financial system.”
Following the visit and reporting by the ICRG Group when the visited Papua New Guinea in April, the President of the FATF, Mr. Je-Yoon Shin, stated the following in correspondence with the Prime Minister:
The FATF welcomed the significant actions by Papua New Guinea to address the strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime, including by:
- Adequately criminalizing money laundering and terrorist financing;
- Establishing adequate procedures for the confiscation of assets related to money laundering;
- Establishing and implementing an adequate legal framework for identifying, tracing and freezing terrorist assets;
- Establishing a fully operational and effectively functioning financial intelligence unit;
- Establishing suspicious transaction reporting requirements;
- Implementing an adequate AML/CFT supervisory and oversight program for all financial sectors; and,
- Establishing effective controls for cross-border currency transactions.