Official Says Joining FATF Had No Effect on National Economy
According To Iran News, Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghadam, a member of the Expediency Council, has said that accepting the FATF (the Financial Action Task Force) would not have improved the current economic condition and it could even worsen it.
Speaking to IRIB, he said that so far the country has observed 39 paragraphs out of the 41 paragraphs of the FATF but the country has seen no positive action from it.
Mesbahi-Moghaddam added that only two paragraphs of the FATF have been left which are about joining Palermo Convention and CFT Convention, adding it is interesting that those who claim the country should have joined the FATF do not at know or are not aware that these two paragraphs of the FATF are about what and what topics are, and they even do not know the country has implemented or ignored which paragraphs.
He went on to say that he has a question from those who claim that by joining the FATF, economic problems would almost be resolved and the question is if the country joins FATF and CFT, are they certain that foreign banks would continue cooperation with Iran?
He noted the answer is clear and they will not work with Iranians because of the U.S. threats over its imposed sanctions on Iran, and foreign banks have to choose cooperation between Iranian or American banks.
Mesbahi-Moghaddam further said that by joining the Palermo and CFT conventions and accepting their obligations, the country cannot cover any financial transaction and the offence will be considered as money-laundering.
He noted that the country is currently skirting the sanctions, and foreign banks are working with Iran as the country last year imported some $43b and exported $41b, and all the money was transferred under covering financial transfers.
He added that the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia are among 37 executive board of FATF and they are waiting for us to join the FATF in order to monitor the country’s financial transactions, and joining the FATF is some kind of self-sanctioning and it make the condition worse for the national economy.
