The Mauritius Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance of Mauritius (“MFSGG”) has issued a Communique on 27 January 2021 to confirm that “Mauritius remains focused to exit the FATF list at the earliest” and to provide an update on the progress being made by Mauritius to implement within the agreed timeline all the requisite measures (“Action Plan”) to be removed from the FATF Grey List (also known as the list of jurisdiction under increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force).
Mauritius submitted its Second Progress Report to FATF on 27 November 2020 which described all the updated actions taken to implement the Action Plan and which underlined the significant overall progress undertaken by Mauritius in that aspect. This followed subsequent exchange of information.
On Friday 22 January 2021, a virtual face to face meeting (the “Meeting”) was held between the Financial Action Task Force African/Middle East Joint Group (“FATF A/ME JG”) and the Mauritian delegation (headed by the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius), whereby Mauritius had the opportunity to provide clarifications to the FATF on queries raised by the assessors (the “Assessors”).
During the past virtual face to face meeting and plenary meeting in September 2020 and October 2020 respectively, the FATF commended the tremendous progress made by Mauritius in implementing the Action Plan despite the Covid-19 Pandemic. During the Meeting, the Assessors also complimented the sustained progress made by Mauritius in that respect.
Following the Meeting, the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (“ESAAMLG”) issued its 3rd Follow-up Report for Mauritius on 25 January 2021 (the “FUR”). It conducted a re-rating exercise on the compliance status of Mauritius with regards to the FATF 40 Recommendations and it is noted that Mauritius is overall compliant, largely compliant and partially compliant on 39 Recommendations.
The next FATF plenary session will be held in February 2021 during which the Second Progress Report of Mauritius will be considered along with the FUR and report of the Assessors.
Mauritius remains focused on proving its adherence to the international best practice norms for the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, and reiterates its unflinching commitment to exit the FATF list at the earliest.
