Bahrain has demonstrated its international commitment to combat extremism, terrorism financing and money laundering.
Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa made the remarks as he chaired a meeting of the committee to combat extremism, terror financing and money laundering.
Gen Shaikh Rashid lauded Bahrain’s third follow-up report that was approved during the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) meeting held in Bahrain.
He said national efforts to fight dirty money and terror financing have won the country regional and international recognition.
The report was evaluated by a team of international experts who applauded Bahrain’s commitment and implementation of 39 out of 40 recommendations set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog based in France.
Bahrain started to work on the national report in July last year in co-ordination with other government entities, and submitted all documents to MENAFATF group in November.
The two-day MENAFATF meeting was held in Manama earlier this week. It was chaired by its present and Moroccan Financial Intelligence Unit chairman Dr Jawhar Al Nafisi.
Experts from observer countries and international bodies such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund attended the sessions, to come up with real strategies to tackle money laundering, combat terrorist financing and protect the economic, social and political systems in the region from financial crimes.
Bahrain set up a prosecution office specialised in tackling financial crimes and money laundering in 2020.
The Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution Office investigates cases related to bribery, embezzlement, appropriation, deliberate damage to public funds with the intention of making profits, causing damage through negligence or treachery and abuse of office or influence.
Bahrain’s courts in the past few years have sentenced money launderers and dealt with high profile cases, including Future Bank whose officials and participants were fined millions of dinars, along with hefty jail terms.
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