Kenya has been picked to participate in the global money-laundering and terrorist financing watchdog meetings and working groups for one year, offering a boost in its quest to get out of the grey-list as the first review falls due.
The seat is part of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) inaugural guest initiative that allows countries from the watchdog’s regional bodies to participate in key meetings and engage directly in anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and proliferation financing (AML/CFT/PF) interventions.
The inclusion of Kenya on the list of first guest members alongside the Cayman Islands and Senegal has given the country a chance to send delegates to the five-day FATF plenary that got underway in Paris, France on Monday 17.
The country becomes the first guest non-member from the East and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)—the regional body of FATF in Eastern and Southern Africa to attend the plenary.
Kenya’s seat at FATF plenary and working group meetings come at a time when the first review of the progress it has made in addressing the gaps that led to its grey-listing in February last year falls due.
Financial Reporting Centre) Director-General Saitoti Maika is leading Kenya’s delegation at the plenary.
“The Kenyan delegation will be defending the country’s progress to exit the grey list and similarly ensure that the country’s position is articulated at this important meeting while representing the voices of other countries in the ESAAMLG region that are not directly able to participate in FATF meetings,” said Mr Maika.
“This invitation is a clear demonstration of the FATF’s confidence in Kenya’s efforts to address the deficiencies identified in its mutual evaluation report so that it can exit the FATF grey list in the shortest time possible.”
Kenya was placed on the FATF grey list in February last year, joining other jurisdictions such as Angola, South Sudan, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa from the ESAAMLG region that are under increased monitoring when it comes to illicit financial flows.
Countries under the FATF grey list are required to work closely with the watchdog to address strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT/PF measures.
Those with significant deficiencies that pose a risk to the international financial system are blacklisted.
Mr Maika said Kenya will explain to FATF the progress it has made in addressing deficiencies in terrorist financing (TF) risk assessment and the technical deficiencies in the legal and institutional framework for implementing targeted financial sanctions related to the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
