Posts

Visualising corruption risks in the illegal rhino horn trade supply chain

Nicola Okes and Gabriel Sipos, TRAFFICFirst published on TNRC (Tackling Natural Resource Corruption) The rhino horn trade represents one of the four largest illegal wildlife trade flows (UNODC 2020) by value. Although the drivers and uses of rhino horn differ across user groups and market destinations (e.g., medicinal use or status-conferring prestige products), the overall Read more >

Early 2023 commencement for balance of General Laws amendment act

The final part of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act is due to commence in the early months of 2023. The General Laws (AML/CTF) bill proposed a sweeping range of integrated reforms to five pieces of legislation which regulated vastly different areas of concern – trusts; non-profit organisations; companies; and Read more >

Weakened law-making system leads to inadequate legislation

Image: Wikimedia Commons, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license South Africa’s law-making regime is another casualty of the corruption and mismanagement that was prevalent during the state capture years, writes Caroline James, advocacy co-ordinator at amaBhungane. Here she describes how amaBhungane and Corruption Watch had to rush to get their joint submission Read more >

Urgent need for bill to clarify laws around fake company fronting

By Sanan MirzoyevFirst published on Business Day In February 2023, South Africa will almost certainly be making an unwelcome appearance on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) roster of greylisted countries — unless “we perform a few miracles”. These were the words of National Treasury’s Ismail Momoniat when he presented a grim account before Parliament Read more >

South Africa must prepare for FATF greylisting, says BLSA report

By David ThomasFirst published on African Business The probability of South Africa being greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is as high as 85%, according to a report commissioned by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and compiled by analysts Intellidex.  The FATF, an intergovernmental organisation founded to develop policies to combat money laundering Read more >

CW and AmaB submit on anti-money laundering bill, express concerns

In a comprehensive joint submission to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance today, non-profit organisations Corruption Watch and AmaBhungane expressed concern that the haste with which the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill was developed may have compromised its effectiveness. The bill was prepared in a matter of months after the Financial Read more >

Cabinet approves bill to boost fight against money laundering

Source: National Treasury Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has tabled the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill [B18-2022] in Parliament, in terms of Joint Rule 159. The Announcements, Tablings and Committee report no 125-2022, issued by Parliament on 25 August 2022, has confirmed that the Bill has been submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance and Read more >

A global asset registry will boost equality and fight lawless wealth

Anonymous private wealth. Luxurious homes, state-of-the-art yachts and aircraft, priceless jewellery, valuable pieces of art, and more. Symbols of an ever-increasing global problem of financial inequality, and a proven driver also of corruption and tax abuse. Such wealth in the hands of a mere fraction of the global population is unsustainable – and as long Read more >

New company ownership regulation a step in right direction

By Mashudu Masutha and Karabo RajuiliFirst published on News24 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global standard-setting body for combating money laundering, setting minimum standards via 40 recommendations. It has sanctioning mechanisms for countries that fail to comply. Recently, the organisation updated its Recommendation 24, which deals with beneficial ownership transparency – and Read more >