Botswana improves but remains on dirty money greylist :: Mmegi Online

A new review of the Botswana’s compliance with international Anti-Money Laundering/Combatting of Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards has positively re-rated three key areas of concern previously amongst a group of factors that led to the country’s greylisting at global level.

However, the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), whose recommendations are used by global bodies to list Botswana, does not yet recommend the country’s removal from the adverse rankings.

ESAAMLG’s findings in May 2017 of dirty money deficiencies in Botswana led to the country’s greylisting in October 2018 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the leading anti-money laundering agency founded by the world’s richest countries. The FATF’s subsequent recommendations resulted in the European Union blacklisting Botswana and 22 other countries in February 2019, citing the weak systems and saying it “had to make sure that dirty money from other countries does not find its way to our financial system”.

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