Prime Minister-designate Nagib Mikati (c) speaking at the Grand Serail with the delegation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), July 18, 2022. (Credit: Twitter/@grandserail)
BEIRUT — A delegation from the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental anti-money laundering body, began a three-week visit to Beirut on Monday to assess on the ground Lebanon's actions to combat money laundering and terrorism.
Here’s what we know:
• The officials conferred with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati about “Lebanon's commitment to international standards for combating money laundering and financing of terrorism and destructive weapons.”
• The Secretary General of the Special Investigation Commission of Banque du Liban and coordinator of the FATF’s visit, Abdel Hafiz Mansour, said that the trip will last three weeks. The officials will organize visits to ministries, public administrations, prosecutors and the private sector.
• “This operation is very serious and will last for 14 to 16 months,” Mansour said, noting that the work had begun in late 2021 when laws in force on this subject were being reviewed.
• FATF’s visit comes as the Finance Committee adopted Monday a proposed law to allow for the lifting of banking secrecy, which must still be approved by the full Parliament. The law is required by the International Monetary Fund to release aid to a country in full socio-economic and financial collapse, whose national currency had at one point lost more than 95 percent of its value.