‘Turkey successful in its fight against money laundering'

Turkey's battle against money laundering has proven effective, said the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at a general assembly in Paris last month.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the FATF said Turkey was "moving in the right direction" in terms of implementing necessary regulations to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. In their previous report on Turkey released in 2007, the FATF said Turkey was still coming up short, having failed to meet most of the FATF's 49 recommendations, which together form a complete set of countermeasures against money laundering. The FATF said in 2007 that the judicial mechanism was not operating well in battling money laundering, noting that Turkey had failed to enact 33 out of the 49 recommendations. The country was granted a 22-month follow-up period during which it was to finalize the implementation of necessary regulations to this end.

In last month's meeting, the FATF said Turkey had reconciled its policies with at least 20 recommendations and granted the country another 12 months to fix the remaining shortcomings. Anatolia quoted a senior Turkish official at the meeting as saying that the FATF had reached a conclusion that Turkey was proceeding as expected in terms of the fight against money laundering and that is why they gave the country another 12 months.

"If the FATF had found Turkey inefficient in its efforts, then they would summon Turkey to another meeting within a few months to assess its latest position. However, there was no need for such thing; we are doing well and have one year to handle the remaining problems," the official noted.

The FATF also appreciated the efforts of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) against money laundering, underlining that the KKTC had established effective countermeasures against dirty money and had revised the laws governing the operations of banks and gambling houses in the country. Thus the KKTC is no longer under close inspection.

Meanwhile, the "wealth amnesty" program that allowed Turkish expatriates to bring in money held outside the Turkish banking system without being subjected to questions concerning the source of the funds was also reportedly discussed at the FATF meeting, where some members asked whether it was possible that the application would facilitate money laundering. Turkish officials informed the FATF that although the Turkish government does not inspect the source of the funds, it would be impossible for illegally acquired funds, such as drug money or money earned from terrorism or illegal arms sales, to be laundered through the wealth amnesty program since it is still subject to tax law, which makes the program reliable.

An intergovernmental body developing and promoting policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, the FATF was established in 1989. The institution currently has 34 members, and its evaluations are regarded with special importance by international bodies, including the United Nations.

Zource: TODAY'S ZAMAN