Thailand Removed from FATF Public Statement on Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

(02/05/2013)

The Ministry of Justice of Thailand has received a letter from the President of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), informing that Thailand has been removed from its public statement categorizing the country as a jurisdiction with insufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies of its Anti Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Strategy.

The FATF public statement aims to caution its Member States to increase their scrutiny in engaging in financial transactions originating from or flowing to country listed therein.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the removal of Thailand from the FATF public statement resulted from the country’s significant progress in complying with FATF’s recommendations, specifically by enacting the Anti-Money Laundering Act (No. 4) B.E. 2556 (2013) and the Counter Terrorism Financing Act B.E. 2556 (2013), both of which recently came into force on 2 February 2013.

FATF experts will once again visit Thailand in May 2013 to confirm whether the country has strictly and concretely addressed its deficiencies and complied with FATF’s recommendations.

If the experts find that Thailand has not made satisfactory progress on the matter, they may recommend that the country be relisted on the FATF public statement. Thailand is therefore highly committed to continuously tackling other existing deficiencies.

Justice Minister Police General Pracha Promnog is scheduled to meet the FATF President in June 2013.

FATF is tasked with combating money laundering and terrorism financing worldwide. It has developed a series of recommendations that are recognized as the international standard for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This task force also monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally.