Five (5) African countries have just been placed under enhanced surveillance by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that fights money laundering and terrorist financing. This decision was taken at the end of the plenary session of this institution held from 16 to 21 February in Paris.

These include Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius, Uganda and Zimbabwe. They are part of a list of 18 countries that are subject to this increased surveillance, also known as the " grey list".

Following this FATF decision, some of these countries are called upon to carry out and complete for others a series of reforms concerning their legal, regulatory and administrative arsenal in order to " remedy the strategic deficiencies of their anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regimes.  ".

Alongside this grey list, the FATF has identified two high-risk countries, " with significant strategic gaps in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regimes". These are North Korea and Iran.

The institution calls on all its members to apply enhanced diligence to these countries. " And in the most serious cases, countries are called upon to apply countermeasures to protect the international financial system from the current situation," she said.

Established in 1989, the FATF is responsible for developing standards and promoting the effective application of legislative, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF shall monitor the progress made by its members in implementing the required measures, examine money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and measures to combat these phenomena, and encourage the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures at global level.  In collaboration with As other international actors, the FATF also identifies vulnerabilities at the country level in order to protect the international financial sector from its illicit use.