Senior Cleric Warns Against Negative Consequences of Iran's Endorsement of FATF

Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani warned senior Iranian officials against the negative consequences that might arise from joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

News ID: 443051

Date: 18 January 2019 - 17:56

RNA - Addressing a large and fervent congregation of the people in Tehran on Friday, Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani said, "FATF has been designed by the US Treasury Department to control other countries' financial resources; combating money-laundering and financing terrorist groups (as claimed by FATF) are not true as the main sponsors of terrorist groups are Europe, the US and Israel."

The bill on Iran’s accession to the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT) was rejected by the Guardian Council in early November due to some flaws that the Council had found to be ambiguous or against the country’s Constitution. The bill was then amended by the Iranian Parliament, waiting for the next steps in the Guardian Council.

To fulfill FATF requirements, President Hassan Rouhani’s administration has proposed four bills to the parliament for approval, two of which are still undecided, including the Palermo Convention. They have been referred to the Expediency Council for final approval.

Iran recently approved anti-money laundering (AML), which was a domestically-developed bill, and it voted to join the CFT standards set by the FATF for years.

On June 30, the FATF said Iran had until October to complete reforms that would “bring it into line with global norms or face consequences” that could further deter investors from the country.

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