Rezaei: Europe behavior will affect EC decision on Fatf-related bills
The secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that the behavior of European countries will affect the body’s final decision on ratifying Fatf-related bills.
He made the remarks at a press conference after Saturday’s council session, held to review Iran’s accession to the UN Convention on Transnational Crime (Palermo), ended without a conclusion, leaving the fate of the bill unknown until the next Iranian year (starting March 21), according to Mehr News Agency.
“The behavior of Europeans will affect the council’s decision since we are not satisfied with their performance on JCPOA [Iran nuclear deal],” Rezaei added.
Since the bill on Iran’s accession to the Convention against the Funding of Terrorism (CFT) and the one joining the UN Convention on Transnational Crime overlap in some areas, it was decided that CFT experts should be present in the body’s future sessions, said Rezaei.
Rezaei said that the council will put these two bills on its agenda in the new Iranian year.
The Palermo bill had been once examined in the Guardian Council and then in the high supervisory board of the Expediency Council, where the bodies found some flaws with it and referred it back to Parliament. However, the Parliament insisted on its endorsement and returned the bill to the Expediency Council for the final verdict.
Together with CFT, Palermo is a controversial Fatf-related bill that Iran has been requested to endorse in order to join the anti-money laundering watchdog and get off the body’s blacklist.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchdog again extended a deadline for Iran to complete legal changes.
The body that sets standards for antimoney-laundering and counterterrorism financing rules, said it would require increased supervisory examinations for financial institutions in Iran if the nation doesn’t enact the necessary measures by June.
The FATF initially gave Iran a year to complete its overhaul but it has pushed back the deadline a number of times, and did so again on February 22.