Nigeria, three other countries  taken off money-laundering 'grey list'

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A global money-laundering watchdog said Friday that it removed South Africa, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Mozambique from its "grey list" of countries subjected to increased monitoring.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) deems countries on the grey list to have "strategic deficiencies" in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, but accepts they are cooperating with the agency.

Delegates at a FATF meeting in Paris said they were removing the four nations after "successful on-site visits" because they had completed action plans within "agreed timeframes".

As a result they will no longer be subject to increased monitoring.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomed delisting as "a major milestone... towards economic reform, institutional integrity and global credibility".

Nigeria, which has been battling a jihadist insurgency in the northeast since 2009, was placed on the list in February 2023.

South Africa's Treasury said the move represented "a major policy and institutional achievement" for South Africans.

The country's tax commissioner Edward Kieswetter vowed the delisting would not mark an "end to our vigilance".

"The fight against financial crime and corruption is a continuous one," Kieswetter said in a statement.

More than 200 countries and jurisdictions have pledged to implement the recommendations of the FATF, which regularly reviews their efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and weapons proliferation.

It also has a "black list" of nations that are considered high-risk jurisdictions, currently consisting of Iran, Myanmar and North Korea.