Cape Town — The government’s International Cooperation, Trade and Security (ICTS) cluster said a plan to address South Africa being grey listed is in place.
The cluster said Cabinet had considered the action plan and was committed to working actively with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to address the outstanding deficiencies.
The FATF had determined that South Africa needed to make further and sustained progress in addressing the eight areas of strategic deficiencies related to the effective implementation of laws on combating money laundering and financing terrorism.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country needed to be able to demonstrate an increase in the investigation and prosecution of serious and complex money-laundering and terrorism-financing crimes, among other things.
ALSO READ | Taxman’s revenue collection grows by R300bn
“Our action plan to address these deficiencies is aligned with the work we are doing to implement the recommendations of the State Capture Commission as outlined in our submission to Parliament in October last year,” Ramaphosa said.
He also noted that South Africa was dealing with the shifting sands of globalised crime and criminal syndicates, adding that the challenge lay in authorities anticipating criminal innovation and responding swiftly and effectively.
“We have restored credibility to key institutions like SARS and the NPA to enable them to fulfil their respective mandates. We have bolstered the powers of the Special Investigating Unit by establishing a Special Tribunal to recover public funds stolen through corruption and fraud, and an Investigative Directorate in the NPA to investigate serious corruption,” he said.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: Pixabay
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
