Arab nations are making good progress in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, with significant strides in controlling charities, the head of a regional watchdog said yesterday. The comments by Muhammad Baasiri, president of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA FATF) come after the United States has criticized slow progress on the issue in the Arab world. "Countries in the area have honestly taken significant strides in reshaping the charity organizations in their countries. A lot of controls have been imposed on charities and on charities getting money from abroad or transferring money," Baasiri told Reuters in an interview.Baasiri's task force sets standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing for 14 Arab nations. US Treasury Department official Daniel Glaser said in April there was "still a lot of work to be done" by Arabs to tackle the problem. Washington has pressed Arab states to clamp down on sources of militant financing since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The MENA FATF issues standards based on the recommendations of the global body, Paris-based Financial Action Task Force. The standards also deal with the specific nature of the problems in the Arab world, such as funding through the informal hawala system of money transfers, charities and through smuggling of cash, Baasiri said. The countries have also been "cooperating beautifully" with the United Nations and other international organizations by taking steps such as freezing of bank accounts of suspected terrorists, he said. The MENA FATF's 14 members are Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Baasiri said Sudan, Mauritania, Djibouti, Libya, the Palestinian Territories and Iraq may also be absorbed as members of MENA FATF before end-2005.