Comoros

The International Monetary Fund conducted the on-site mutual evaluation of the Union of the Comoros (the Comoros) on behalf of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group from 6 to 20 May, 2009. This Detailed Assessment Report (DAR) of the Comoros summarises the e anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in place in the Comoros as of the date of the on-site visit or soon after that. It describes and analyses those measures, sets out the Comoros levels of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force 40 Recommendations on Money Laundering (2003) and 09 Special Recommendations on the Financing of Terrorism (2001) (see Table 1)). The report also provides recommendations on how certain aspects of the system could be strengthened (see Table 2). The DAR was prepared according to the 2004 AML/CFT Methodology, as updated in October 2008. The Council of Ministers of ESAAMLG approved and adopted the DAR in March 2010.

 

The following constituted the main findings of the DAR concerning measures taken by the Comoros to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism:

• Comoros criminalised money laundering consistent with the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Vienna Convention) and the 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention). However, some offenses included in FATF’s designated category of offenses were not listed in the Criminal Code (CC) or special laws: e.g., trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling, environmental crimes, and piracy.
• The criminalization of the financing of terrorism was inconsistent with Article 2 of the 1999 United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (New York Convention).
• The country did not have provisions to freeze the assets of terrorists and other persons designated by the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee in the application of Resolution S/RES/1267 (1999) and successor resolutions, and United Nations Security Council Resolution S/RES/1373 (2001).
• There was a functional, but weak Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU);
• Implementation of AML/CFT standards in the financial sector was weak. The legal framework for customer due diligence (CDD) did not prohibit the opening of numbered accounts, nor require the update of information collected under the CDD process or provide adequate limits on applying simplified measures.
• While the Comoros was a party to the Vienna Convention, the Palermo Convention and the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, the country did not transpose these into domestic law.
• The legal framework allowed the authorities cooperate broadly with foreign counterparts to exchange information for investigations and proceedings to implement provisional measures and confiscate the proceeds of and instrumentalities used in money laundering. The country also permitted the extradition of fugitives and provided mutual legal assistance on money laundering, the financing of terrorism and other criminal matters. However, the weaknesses of the criminalisation of the financing of terrorism in Comorian law and the lack of criminalisation of some predicate offenses, coupled with the strict application of the principle of dual criminality, tended to limit the scope of the assistance that the authorities could provide to other countries
• There were no investigations or convictions for money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
• Comoros was not a party to the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; and the Protocol against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition.