RIYADH, 1 April 2004 — Saudi Arabia said yesterday that it had received a clean bill of health from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering and terror funding.
Following a trip here in September 2003, an FATF team “compiled a report on its assessment of the Kingdom’s rules and measures to combat money laundering and terror financing,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
“The FATF team discussed the report, which was positive to a great extent, during a meeting in Paris ... and the report was endorsed” by the body, the agency added.
“The Kingdom’s efforts and measures aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism were also praised by a number of countries represented at the meeting.” Saudi Arabia is a member of FATF, an inter-governmental body set up by a Paris summit of the G-7 industrialized nations in 1989 and whose money laundering duties were expanded after 9/11 to include combating terrorist financing. Saudi Arabia has taken a number of anti-money laundering measures in recent years. The measures included freezing several accounts suspected of illegal dealings and taking softer measures against other accounts submitted to the Kingdom by the United States on suspicion of funding terrorism.