Cambodia needs to develop effective anti-money laundering mechanisms

Cambodia has been identified as one of 12 jurisdictions in which it is necessary to develop programs for strategic counteraction against money laundering.

The group included countries embraced by the civil war - Syria and Yemen, as well as recognized offshore zones, such as the Bahamas. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is based in Paris.

The FATF said last month that Cambodia made a political commitment to work closely with the group. In addition, the country is committed to sharing information with another agency - the Asia-Pacific Group on the fight against money laundering (APG).

The 10-point plan was developed by the authorities of the country and is designed to supervise gambling establishments that are at risk of money laundering problems.

A representative of the Ministry of Economy of Cambodia said that in May last year, more than a hundred gambling establishments operated in the country.

In a report for September 2018, the group stated that there are a number of technical flaws in Cambodia’s fight against money laundering. Namely, the absence of domestic legal instruments aimed at controlling the sphere (except for cases involving drug trafficking, corruption or terrorism), the lack of an effective and timely process of determining priorities and identifying problem situations, and the absence of a mechanism for monitoring requests and confidentiality of the latter.