Iranian MPs hold open session to review bill on Iran’s CFT accession

TEHRAN (defapress) – The Iranian Parliament held an open session in the morning to review a bill on Iran’s accession to Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).

News ID: 72924

Date: 07 October 2018 - 11:30

Parliament's open session on Sunday morning was attended by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Acting Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Seyyed Rahmatollah Akrami, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Intelligence Minister Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi, Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati, Vice-President for Legal Affairs Laya Joneydi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi and Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi.

National Security and Foreign Policy Committee also held a closed session in the morning, during which the MPs reviewed Iran’s accession to Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).

A large number of students from various universities in Tehran gathered in front of the Iranian Parliament on Sunday morning to protest against the decision to review Iran's accession to three FATF-related bills, United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (known as Palermo bill), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Money Laundering Act. The bills are conditions made by FATF to let Iran quit the blacklist of high-risk countries of the Financial Action Task Force.

Back in June, 2018, members of the Iranian Parliament discussed the CFT accession bill, which is one of the four bills proposed by the government on Iran’s adopting the FTAF standards, but shelved it for two months.

The Parliament also approved a bill on the country’s accession to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as Palermo Convention, but the bill was rejected by the Guardian Council. Then the Parliament insisted on its decision, and the case has been referred to the Expediency Council to make the final decision.

The same thing happened to an amendment to the anti-money laundering law of the Islamic Republic, which was proposed by the government, approved by the Parliament, but rejected by the Guardian Council. This one has also been rejected by the Expediency Council.

Meanwhile, the fourth bill, which was an amendment to the country’s law against financing terrorism, was approved by the Parliament and the Guardian Council, and signed into law by President Hassan Rouhani.

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