The government of Botswana is aware of these dangers and this month achieved a major milestone by completing a reform programme to crackdown on illicit finance. I congratulate the Botswana authorities on the enormous amount of work they have undertaken to achieve this result. There is good reason to celebrate Botswana’s progress. Since being listed in 2018 on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) increased monitoring list, the so-called grey list, Botswana has succeeded in improving its implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls. Botswana has made legal and regulatory changes, and significantly reformed the way its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system works in practice. These changes represent a real increase in Botswana’s effectiveness in detecting and investigating illicit finance and preventing it in the first place. Among its achievements, Botswana has: Established a legal framework and strengthened cooperation between government institutions Solidified the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) as the central agency for reporting and analysing suspicious financial transactions Strengthened the capacity of both non-financial sector and financial sector supervisors to ensure businesses are compliant with their anti-money laundering obligations These are just some of the reforms that Botswana has implemented to prevent and combat serious crime and terrorism and harden the defences of its financial system. Up until this month, Botswana was one of more than twenty countries included on the FATF’s grey list due to weaknesses in their ability to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. Following the comprehensive actions taken by the Botswana authorities, and a successful on-site visit to Gaborone by an FATF team to verify progress, Botswana has been removed from increased monitoring.
This achievement only happened due to the hard work and determination of officials who recognised that changes needed to be made. The Botswana government has given a clear, ongoing, and robust commitment to continue to take action to strengthen its systems. As the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, the FATF welcomes this commitment. The FATF’s regional partner in the region, ESAAMLG, will continue to monitor the country’s progress and assess whether new measures are in line with the FATF’s international standards that more than 200 countries and jurisdictions have committed to implement.
