MENAFATF, in cooperation with GIZ, and UNODC, held a workshop on “International Cooperation and Asset Recovery”, hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain in Manama, from 4 to 6 December 2022. The workshop aimed to highlight the most effective mechanisms for tracking, seizing, confiscating and recovering assets at the global level as well as the most important ways to intensify international cooperation in a way that guarantees the deprivation of criminals of their proceeds and terminate organized crime gangs for the better protection of society.
MENAFATF, UNOCT/UNCCT, and ANRF (Autorité Nationale de Renseignement Financier), held an expert forum meeting on the launch of the Regional ML/TF Risk Assessment Project in MENA Region, on the sidelines of the thirty-fifth MENAFATF plenary meeting, in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, on November 23, 2022, from 9 am to 5 pm. This meeting is considered a starting point for the project, which comes in line with the Kingdom of Morocco’s 2022 MENAFATF Presidency Priorities.
24 -25 November 2022
The work of the MENAFATF’s 35th plenary, which was held over two days in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, was concluded on Friday, 25 November 2022, where it was opened with an opening statement by Her Excellency Mrs. Nadia Fattah, Minister of Economy and Finance in the Kingdom of Morocco, by His Excellency Dr. Jawhar Al-Nafisi, MENAFATF president, and chairman of the Moroccan FIU, and his Excellency Mr. Suliman Aljabrin MENAFATF excutive secertary.
Rabat - Kingdom of Morocco
24 - 25 November 2022
The MENAFATF Secretariat, IMF and GIZ held the Enhancing Transparency on Beneficial Ownership on 30-31 October 2022. The training webinar highlighted fundamental principles of the transparency on beneficiary ownership for legal persons and legal arrangements, BNIs and nomination arrangements, multi-pronged approach to collecting beneficial owner information and a risk-based approach, development of beneficial owner registries, international cooperation in relation to beneficial owner information.
The MENAFATF and Egmont Financial Intelligence Group jointly held the “International Webinar on Virtual Assets Supervision and Investigation” in the 6th and 7th of September, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm, Kingdom of Bahrain time, which discussed best practices and challenges related to virtual assets in terms of supervision, financial analysis, investigation and cooperation between supervisory bodies, law enforcement authorities, financial information units, and other stakeholders, which witnessed the attendance of more than 300 participants.
The MENAFATF Secretariat participated in the activities of the 28th Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units Plenary which held in Latvia during the period from 10 to 15 July 2022, where the MENAFATF Secretariat received a certificate of appreciation from the Egmont Group for its distinguished efforts in the framework of cooperation and coordination between them.
The ICA and MENAFATF Secretariat held a webinar on Sanctions Risk Management on 27 June 2022.
The MENAFATF hosted, during the period from 26 to 30 June 2022, the training program prepared by the FATF which is directed to the secretariat of the FSRBs. The training program highlighted the different stages of ME process and the mechanism on planning, organizing and coordinating such as well as the obstacles that may face the ME process, which will therefore lead to appropriate solutions to address them. Whereby representatives from the MENAFATF Secretariat, the APG Secretariat, the CFATF Secretariat, and GIABA Secretariat participated in the program.
On 25 May 2022, the work of the MENAFATF 34th Plenary was concluded, which was held in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Jawhar Al-Nafisi – President of the MENAFATF, Chairman of the Kingdom of Morocco’s FIU, and His Excellency Dr. Mohamed El Amine El Dahabi – Vice President of the MENAFATF, Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritania.