Arabs Seek Regional Group To Fight Money Laundering
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Financial officials from Arab countries worked behind closed doors here on Thursday to create the first regional organization in the Middle East and North Africa to fight money laundering, delegates to a meeting on terrorist and criminal finance said. The organization could be a vital tool to pursue terrorist money that flows outside traditional banking channels through an ancient system known as hawala, which is also important in sending money from workers scattered around the globe to relatives in Muslim countries. Five regional organizations already work under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force, which was created in 1989 to investigate money laundering by drug cartels and organized crime and, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has also tracked terrorist finance. The task force sets standards, like urging countries to adopt laws that make money laundering a crime and that authorize the extradition of suspects. It also publishes lists of countries whose financial regulatory systems it deems helpful to money laundering. The current list has 7 countries on it, down from a peak of 21. More : query.nytimes.com |