Luanda — Angola defended in March the Mutual Evaluation Report at the technical meeting of the "task force" of the Anti-Money Laundering Group for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAAMLG) held in Arusha, Tanzania.

According to a statement issued by the Financial Information Unit (UIF), the preliminary results of the meeting have not been disclosed yet.

The statement adds that the conclusions of the referred discussions will be submitted by the task force to the knowledge and subsequent deliberation in the plenary of the Council of Ministers of the Financial Action Group (GAFI) of this regional organisation to be held in September and October.

The Angolan delegation gave a brief information on the mutual report during the 45th meeting of the "task force" of senior experts of the ESAAMLG, a branch of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held from March 26-31 in Arusha.

Headed by the secretary of State for Finance and the Treasury, Ottoniel Lobo dos Santos, the Angolan group was heard by experts representing member states of the organisation, including South Africa, Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi,Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya, Kingdom of Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The task force meeting discussed issues related to the organisation, among which the Mutual Evaluation Report of Angola, as the country is already in the second round of the evaluation as a member state of the ESAAMLG.

The document defended by the Angolan delegation, is the result of the Mutual Evaluation Process to which member countries are subjected to assess the level of technical compliance of their laws and regulations with the 40 recommendations of the FATF.

These also seek to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of their systems for preventing and combating money laundering, financing terrorism and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.