2024-10-29 18:09:00
The Financial Action Task Force removed Senegal from its list on 25 October 2024. grey » for his “ significant efforts » in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. A breath of fresh air for the economy?
Three years after inclusion in the list” grey “, Senegal is no longer part of the ” enhanced surveillance » of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In 2021, Dakar was awarded for “ strategic failures » in its regimes to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The organization had reported shortcomings in entire sectors of the economy, from construction to real estate, including casinos, notaries, lawyers… Companies and professions in these sectors were accused of not doing enough to report suspicious transactions of funds, and thus indirectly encourage money laundering.
At the time, the FATF recommended the implementation of 49 recommendations. Three years later, all have been transposed into Senegalese texts, in particular with the adoption of a new law on the matter in February 2024. “ The spirit of this law is to fill the shortcomings of previous legislation to comply with the FATF recommendations », explains Moussa Sylla, specialist in the fight against money laundering.
The measures allow, among other things, better tracing of suspicious funds by limiting the use of frontmen and provide for strengthened and targeted sanctions – including criminal ones – against banks or institutions that do not comply with their obligations.
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Recovery of illicitly acquired assets
« Starting in 2021, Senegal wanted to ensure its willingness to fight against illegal sources of financingobserves Moussa Sylla. This involves in particular the creation, in April 2022, of the National Office for the Recovery of Criminal Assets (Onrac). From now on, funds from people suspected of money laundering or terrorist financing can be recovered and sold at auction. It simply eliminates the ability for criminals to profit from their illegally acquired property. » Another point is that the state has placed emphasis on training and raising awareness of law enforcement officials. With concrete results: according to the National Financial Information Processing Unit (Centif), “reports of suspicious activity » jumped 145% in 2023.
Regain investor confidence
« Senegal’s exit from this “grey list” represents an extremely important element in terms of imageanalyzes Magaye Gaye, economist and former director of the West African Development Bank and the African Economic Cooperation and Guarantee Fund (Fagace). This allows us to say that we no longer want to have bad press among international investors and donors. » The three years of “enhanced surveillance » of the FATF have effectively eroded investor confidence. A Centif source, cited by the newspaper The worldevokes a decline in investment capital of 6 to 7% from 2021.
« This decision also counterbalances the unfortunate episodes of sovereign rating downgrades by rating agencies, adds the economist (at the beginning of October Moody’s lowered Senegal’s rating to B1 and placed the country ” under surveillance », ed.). Finally, it comforts the new authorities who support a discourse of truth to international bodies at a time when the country needs huge financing to meet its social and economic needs. » Last week, Finance Minister Cheikh Diba confided that Senegal was trying to negotiate a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the last one dating back to 2023.
Three weeks before the legislative elections, scheduled for November 17, the president Bassirou Diomaye Faye and its Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko they could also take advantage of the FATF announcement to broaden their initial assessment, although the FATF decision also stems from efforts undertaken by their predecessors.
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