NANGO invited its members to attend a meeting aimed at raising awareness on Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) organised by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) at the RBZ Sports Club on 5 April 2018.
The meeting has been necessitated by government efforts, led by RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit and Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to ensure that non-profit making organisations are not used to raise, move or store funds which will be used to commit terrorist activities, or be used for recruiting or training foreign terrorist fighters.
The inter-governmental body called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) noted that the NGO sector is vulnerable to abuse by terrorist organisations to raise and move funds, provide logistical support, encourage terrorist recruitment or otherwise support.
A guiding document, Recommendations 8: Non-Profit Organisations of FATFs 40 states that countries should review the adequacy of laws and regulations that relate to Non-Profit Organisations which the country has identified as being vulnerable to terrorists financing abuse. Countries should apply focused and proportionate measures, in line with the risk based approach, to such NPOs to protect them from terrorist financing abuse, including terrorist organisations posing as legitimate entities; exploiting legitimate entities as conduits for terrorist financing, including for the purpose of escaping asset-freezing measures; and concealing or obscuring the clandestine diversion of funds intended for legitimate purposes to terrorist organisations.
Zimbabwe has not made significant strides on complying with provisions of recommendation 8: Non-Profit Organisations of FATF’s 40 Recommendations. Due to this, over 20 organisations are invited to a platform where RBZ will give an overview of the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Unit, the roles they are playing together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Services. At this meeting RBZ will highlight the vulnerability of the NGO sector to terrorist financing risks and preventative measures that should be put in place.
