The South African Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) set up a forensic unit to assist the government in fighting corruption and prosecuting complex financial crimes, as part of an effort to remove the country from the FATF's watchlist, Christopher Malan, the center's executive manager, told the media on March 31.
The unit, which is opening on Saturday, will complement the Financial Intelligence Center's structure and expedite asset confiscation and prosecutions.
The unit, which is opening on Saturday, will complement the Financial Intelligence Center's structure and expedite asset confiscation and prosecutions.
According to Malan, the FIC is authorized to help ferret out criminal proceeds and combat money laundering, terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Malan said the National Treasury has allocated 265.3 million South African rand to the FIC, which the agency will use to hire staff for the forensic unit and its expanded oversight role.
"The lion's share of the funding will go toward increased oversight capacity," he said.
Malan outlined that the Centre is "looking at close to 60,000 entities [FIC] would have to bring into the net," and the goal is to have all of them registered by December this year.
"The FATF needs us to report on this early next year," he stressed.
To provide more accurate data on company and trust ownership structures, Malan said, the FIC's corporate registry — the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, which manages around 2.1 million active legal entities, will initiate a beneficial ownership registry next week, subject to all the regulations being passed.
"The regulations are in the final stage of drafting," FIC executive manager noted. "We are hopeful they will be considered on Monday and, with that, the CIPC will have the legal mandate to receive beneficial ownership information from companies."
The global watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, graylisted South Africa on February 24 this year. According to the organization, the country fails to live up to international standards in tackling money laundering and other financial crimes.
Commenting on the Paris-based watchdog's decision, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized that the situation was "less dire than some suggest", adding that the country was ready to address the issue.
"The challenge facing authorities is to anticipate criminal innovation and to respond swiftly and effectively. We have a focused action plan in place to address the remaining deficiencies identified by the FATF. Most of these relate to the implementation of our laws," the president stated.