Rezaie warns of ‘ambiguities’ in FATF guidelines

TEHRAN (defapress) – Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei highlighted that there are many ambiguities in FATF guidelines.

News ID: 75801

Date: 24 February 2019 - 12:00

“While there exist many questions and ambiguities about FATF guidelines, it is expected from the government to prevent the country from sinking into a new quagmire,” he wrote Saturday on his Instagram account.

FATF watchdog extended Iran’s deadline for four months to implement the related guidelines, he noted, adding, “its two years that they are following this policy.”

“In past two months, they put great political and media pressure on the Expediency Council to adopt a hasty decision, instead of engaging in technical discussions and reasoning. It was repeatedly told that FATF will put us on its blacklist.”

He went on to add, “While one can go ahead with efforts to resolve ambiguities and create transparency, then what is the aim of these pressures, threats, and deadlines?”

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchdog said on Friday that it has extended Iran's deadline to June to strengthen its anti-money laundering legislation.

The two FATF-related bills have already been approved by the lawmakers in the Iranian Parliament and need to gain the approval of the Expediency Council after they were rejected by the Guardian Council.

Guardian Council is a body empowered to vet legislation but the Expediency Council acts as a mediator in disputes between the Parliament and the Guardian Council.

While the government of President Rouhani asks for the approval of the bills as a necessary step for keeping trade and banking ties with other countries under US economic sanctions. There are concerns among other officials and some lawmakers that joining the anti-money laundering body may pave the way for further sanctioning Iran.

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