The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is removing Mozambique from its “grey” list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, following more than two years of intensive reform and implementation efforts.

Mozambique was placed on the FATF grey list in October 2022. It has since made significant progress in addressing strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) framework.

Under the National Strategy for Exiting the Grey List, approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2022, the Government of Mozambique, through the Technical Assistance Coordination Committee chaired by the Prime Minister, worked closely with national institutions and international partners to strengthen its legal, institutional and operational response to financial crime.

We are delighted to have played a role in the implementation of the strategy, through technical assistance by our Maputo-based International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) team. 

Intensive training across the country

In collaboration with the Centre for Legal and Judicial Training (CFJJ), our locally based ICAR team coordinated and delivered a series of targeted trainings and mentoring sessions to enhance the capacity of investigators, prosecutors and judges to use financial intelligence, mutual legal assistance and asset recovery mechanisms in complex corruption and money laundering cases.

In total the trainings reached around 150 officials in the north, centre and south of the country.

These activities, conducted under the Anti-Corruption and Accountability Programme supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), directly contributed to the achievement of several Immediate Outcomes identified in Mozambique’s Action Plan for exiting the grey list.

The Immediate Outcomes targeted – which measure the effectiveness of a jurisdiction’s AML/CFT measures in practice – cover international cooperation (IO2), use of financial intelligence (IO6), and the investigation, prosecution and sanctioning of money laundering offences (IO7).

Enhancing Mozambique’s legal regime

Our team also played a role in reviewing and providing targeted guidance on improving Mozambique’s AML/CFT regime in line with the international requirements. Mozambique now has two important new laws that will support government efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction:

• Law No. 14/2023 of 28 of August, establishing the Legal Regime of Preventive Measures and Combating Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism
• Law No. 15/2023 of 28 of August, establishing the Legal Regime of Prevention, Repression and Combating of Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Hope for passing of new civil confiscation law

Mozambique’s exit from the grey list represents a major milestone for the country. It is also a testament to the collective effort of all institutions involved in reinforcing transparency, accountability and the rule of law. Nevertheless, there is still work to be done.

As of October 2023, the updated FATF Recommendation 4 now obliges jurisdictions to implement non-conviction based confiscation regimes as part of their legal toolkit for tackling financial crime. Our ICAR team has since 2021 supported the competent Mozambican authorities in development of a national civil (non-conviction based) confiscation regime.

Led by a multi-sectoral working group coordinated by the Office of the Attorney General (PGR), the process has produced a draft law adapted to Mozambique’s legal and constitutional framework. We hope and expect this law will be approved soon and look forward to supporting its implementation.

Learn more

• Learn more about ICAR’s technical assistance in Mozambique.
• See our Basel AML Index and its Expert Edition – a leading index and assessment tool for money laundering and related financial crime risks in 203 jurisdictions.