In an interview, the FATF President Mr. Marcus Pleyer terms the removal from the grey list as a major milestone achieved by Mauritius and largely facilitated by implementing a reform programme designed to crack down on illicit finance. He told that since being listed on the FATF increased monitoring list, ‘Grey List’, the jurisdiction has been successful in improving the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls where it has not only been able to make legal and regulatory changes but also conduct reforms significantly in the way its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system works in practice. Mr. Pleyer affirms that the reforms constitute a real increase in the jurisdiction’s effectiveness in detecting and probing such crimes together with preventing them to take place.
The Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance of Mauritius released a communiqué highlighting that the FATF Plenary decision is a global acknowledgment of the effectiveness of the Mauritius public and private sector institutions and their cooperation in combating money laundering and terrorism finance. Moreover, it underscores that AML and CFT remain a high priority on the Government’s agenda and that Mauritius is committed and shall take the necessary bold measures required to protect the integrity of its financial system including the global business sector.
The CEO of Mauritius Finance, Samade Jhummun also expressed the confidence that Mauritius Finance had in the Government, regulators, and players of the financial sector whom he praised as having worked collectively and in an exemplary fashion to ensure that Mauritius exits the FATF grey list.