Manama: Saudi Arabia has deplored the decision by the European Commission to place it on a blacklist of 23 non-European Union countries and territories accused of posing a high risk for not doing enough to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.
The list also includes Afghanistan, American Samoa, The Bahamas, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Yemen.
Riyadh said in a statement early on Thursday morning that it "notes with regret the inclusion of Saudi Arabia despite several measures to reinforce its legal framework which has led to increased cooperation with its counterparts."
"The Kingdom reaffirms that it is strongly committed to the common fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, a commitment that it shares with its international partners and allies," the statement said.
Riyadh stressed that the kingdom was an active member of the Global Coalition To Defeat Daesh and co-chair, with United States and Italy, of the counter Daesh financing working group and that it has implemented over the years important laws and procedures with the aim of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing and mitigating associated risks.
"In addition, the Mutual Evaluation Report on Saudi Arabia, published by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in September 2018, commended Saudi Arabia on the level of its technical compliance with the FATF's recommendations," the statement published by the Saudi Press agency, said.
"The FATF report shows that the Kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) preventive measures are strong and well established. The Kingdom has furthermore an established legal framework and co-ordination process for promptly implementing UN targeted financial sanctions on terrorism."
Finance Minister Mohammad Al Jadaan said that Saudi Arabia’s commitment to fighting money laundering and terrorism financing was a strategic priority for the Kingdom.
The minister called on the European Commission officials and the European Parliament members to visit Riyadh and observe "the continuous efforts and initiatives taken by the Kingdom at the local, regional and international levels in the fight against terrorism-financing, and money laundering."
He said that Saudi Arabia would continue to communicate with the Commission and looked forward to a constructive dialogue with its partners in the European Union "to contribute to strengthening and supporting the means of countering money laundering and terrorism at the international and regional levels."
The Saudi stance came hours after the US Treasury Department criticised the EU's list.
"The US Department of the Treasury has significant concerns about the substance of the list and the flawed process by which it was developed," the Treasury said.
"The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global standard-setting body for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The FATF, which includes the United States, the European Commission, 15 EU member states, and 20 other jurisdictions, already develops a list of high-risk jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies as part of a careful and comprehensive process."
The FATF’s work makes virtually all countries around the world subject to a rigorous peer-review methodology that examines the legal frameworks to counter illicit finance as well as how effectively jurisdictions implement them, it added.
"The European Commission’s process for developing its list contrasts starkly with FATF’s thorough methodology… As a result, the European Commission produced a list that diverges from the FATF list without reasonable support."
