Ramaphosa on South Africa's greylisting: we have a plan
South Africa has been greylisted for failing ensure its systems could bring to book those who are involved in illicit transactions.
CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday the country has a focussed action plan to comply with international standards to combat money laundering.
In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa welcomed the increased monitoring by watchdog Financial Action Task Force amid South Africa's addition to the added to the organisation's notorious greylist on Friday.
South Africa was cited for failing ensure its systems could bring to book those who were involved in illicit transactions.
Ramaphosa said most of South Africa’s shortcomings in meeting the inter-governmental grouping's requirements, related to law implementation, including:
- an increase in investigations and prosecutions of serious and complex money laundering and terrorism financing;
- an increase in mutual legal assistance requests to other countries;
increased use of financial intelligence by law enforcement agencies; and
the effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions.
Ramaphosa said the country’s action plan to address the deficiencies was aligned with the implementation plan of Zondo commission recommendations. He added that since the deficiencies did not relate to the country’s financial sector. Ramaphosa also said this meant financial stability and costs of doing business with South Africa would not be seriously impacted by the greylisting, saying it created an opportunity to tighten controls and improve the response to organised crime.
