Ghana removed from EU’s money laundering blacklist

• Posted on June 28, 2021June 28, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Ghana is no longer on the European Union’s list of blacklisted countries that have failed to put in measures to fight money laundering.

This was made known by global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday, June 25, 2021.

It will be recalled that, the European Union (EU), announced plans to take off Ghana from its list of countries noted for money laundering and terrorism financing after meetings were held between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, as well as at the European Commission.

A statement issued by the FATF said it welcomes the significant progress by the country in improving its AML/CFT regime, explaining further that Ghana has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed related technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in October 2018.

“Ghana is therefore no longer subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process. Ghana will continue to work with GIABA to improve further its AML/CFT regime,” it added.

Ghana among 22 countries blacklisted by EU over money laundering breaches

The European Union in May 2020, cited Ghana as one of four African countries listed by the Union for money laundering breaches.

According to the EU, the issue puts the financial transactions of the said countries under greater scrutiny.

The other three African countries put on the list at the time were Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe.

The remaining eight are Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Cambodia, Mongolia and Myanmar.