The Moroccan government has amended a law to combat money laundering in implementation of the Financial Action Task Force recommendation.
Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine al-Othmani considered the ratification a qualitative addition for the sake of eradicating this crime that conceals accumulated revenues of other crimes whether corruption or others.
He added, during the government’s meeting on Thursday, that this law would enable the country to combat this crime and others. From here, the amendment was significant because combating corruption is an essential tool that could maintain security.
The PM reinstated the procedures taken to combat corruption, including establishing the National Institution for Integrity and Combating and Preventing Bribery (Instance Nationale de la Probité, de la Prévention et de la Lutte contre la Corruption) and other procedures.
Othmani stated that the purpose is to close corruption channels on all levels. Earlier, Morocco underwent the first round of mutual assessment of the system for combating money-laundry and terrorism-funding in 2007. The second round underwent mutual evaluation in Sep. 2017.
The first report on mutual assessment in Morocco was prepared during the general meeting in Beirut in November 2018, also in the general meeting in April 2019 in Amman. In the report, Morocco got a ‘basic’ level in the field of investigating terrorism funding crimes and bringing the involved to court.
Morocco was among the pioneering countries in the region in preparing the first risk assessment report on money-laundry and terrorism-funding, with the assistance of the World Bank.