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| Africa North |
| Tunisian law targets terrorist funding, money laundering |
| 2009-07-29 |
| [Maghrebia] A new Tunisian law will boost investor confidence and facilitate a crackdown on terrorist financiers and money launderers, say the country's legislators and financial sector experts. The law, enacted by Parliament last Tuesday (July 21st), aims to harmonise Tunis' legal framework with UN resolutions and treaties designed to freeze flows of money used to bankroll terrorism. "The law comes at just the right moment, especially since Tunisia is opening its financial services sector to private sector investors, and we have to protect the financial system from exploitation by con artists, criminals, and terrorists," said banking and finance expert Salem Ben Aziza. During the law's presentation to Parliament last week, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Bechir Tekkari said that the legislation was aimed at protecting Tunisia's financial sector from criminal acts, particularly given Tunis's preparations for more openness to global financial markets. The new law complements Tunisia's 2003 Anti-Terrorism Law, which set up a financial analysis commission at the nation's central bank, and comes in the context of a 2004 memorandum of understanding signed by 14 Arab countries, including Maghreb nations, which set up a financial working group for the Middle East and North Africa to combat money laundering and terror financing. In 2007, Tunisia hosted an Arab conference on the role of the financial and banking institutions in combating money laundering. "The law ... is essential to keeping abreast of the international standards that Tunisia has willingly adopted to enhance financial transparency and get in step with international standards," said Tekkari. "These international standards provide the necessary safeguards against those who engage in suspicious financial dealings, and we'll review the composition of the financial analysis commission, approve the freezing of money of people who are proven to have engaged in suspicious financial dealings, or money belonging to people against whom resolutions were passed by UN bodies for their links with terrorist acts." Tunisian lawmakers' concerns stem in part from the scale of money laundering, a crime which involves concealing the source of assets obtained through criminal activity. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, between $600 billion and $1.6 trillion is laundered annually, including $400 billion routed through Africa. Terrorist activities may also be paid for with laundered money, according to the IMF, which in May 2009 launched a Multi-Donor Trust Fund to combat money laundering and terror funding. In Tunisia, depending on the severity of their crime, convicted money launderers face imprisonment for up to 10 years and fines of 5,000 to 100,000 dinars. Legal measures, however, are just one piece in the overall framework for eliminating terrorism and money laundering, said experts contacted by Magharebia. "Combating terrorism is a duty for governments worldwide, but they can't eradicate it as long as several conditions aren't in place, including ... opening the horizon for young people to deal with the fate of their country ... while guaranteeing their freedom of expression and activities, because political, cultural, financial, and emotional suppression helps create terrorism," said lawyer Bochra Bel Haj Hmida. "In the end, the law can play its role in ensuring justice, rights, and freedom only when the necessary conditions are in place for the judiciary to render judgments that are fully independent from the political authority," added Hmida. For now, the new law is being hailed as both a safeguard against terrorism and a step towards more openness and accountability. "I think the new law is ... a response to international standards, and Tunisia is known to be a country open to the world," said Ben Aziza. |
| Posted by:Fred |