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3 NEWS 9.11.2023 FROM PAGE 1 e FATF added Panama to its grey list of countries in June 2019 due in part to 15 unfulfilled action points required for compliance. According to Malta's Financial Intel- ligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), the FATF classifies jurisdictions into different cat- egories: Jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their regime to counter money laun- dering, terrorist financing, and financ- ing of proliferation that have failed to meaningfully address their AML/CFT deficiencies and are subject to a call for counter-measures (listed under 'High- Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action'). is process is informally re- ferred to as "black listing". Jurisdictions that have developed an ac- tion plan with the FATF and have made a high-level political commitment to ad- dress their AML/CFT deficiencies (list- ed in the 'Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring'). is process is informally referred to as "grey listing". Per its June 2023 evaluation, the FATF agreed that the required action points were mostly achieved by Panama. ese actions included essential up- dates to the National Risk Assessment, increasing personnel for analysis, and strengthening risk-based supervision. Panama modified its standard for the prevention of money laundering and fi- nancing of terrorism (AML?CFT), im- posing stricter penalties for non-compli- ance. Since 2019, the country has introduced several AML/CFT laws and executive decrees, demonstrating its fixed com- mitment for improving its financial in- tegrity and international standing. In its 27 Ocotber announcement, the FATF said it welcomed Panama's signif- icant progress in improving its AML/ CFT regime. "Panama strengthened the effective- ness of its AML/CFT regime to meet the commitments in its action plan re- garding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in June 2019 related to (1) strengthening its understanding of the national and sectoral ML/TF risk and informing findings to its national policies to mitigate the identified risks; (2) taking action to identify unlicensed money remitters, applying a risk-based approach to supervision of the DNFBP sector and applying effective, propor- tionate, and dissuasive sanctions against AML/CFT violations; (3) verifying up- dated beneficial ownership informa- tion by obliged entities, establishing mechanisms to monitor the activities of offshore entities, assessing the exist- ing risks of misuse of legal persons and arrangements to define and implement specific measures to prevent the misuse of nominee shareholders and directors, and allowing timely access to adequate and accurate beneficial ownership in- formation; and (4) using FIU products for ML investigations, demonstrating its ability to investigate and prosecute ML involving foreign tax crimes and provid- ing constructive and timely international cooperation with such offence, and con- tinuing to focus on ML investigations in relation to high-risk areas identified in the NRA and MER. Panama is therefore no longer subject to the FATF's increased monitoring process." e FATF said that even being off the grey list, Panama should continue to work with GAFILAT to sustain its improve- ments in its AML/CFT system. Bulgaria on FATF grey list In the same October plenary that saw FATF members move Panama off the grey list, Bulgaria was added to the list. With Croatia already on the grey list, Bulgaria is now the second EU member state on the list. Another 21 countries from outside the EU are also on the list. Malta was also grey listed between June 2021 and June 2022. Bulgaria has made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to strengthen the effec- tiveness of its AML/CFT regime. Since the adoption of its MER in May 2022, Bulgaria has made progress on its MER's recommended actions to improve its in- ternational cooperation. In its 27 October evaluation, the FATF said Bulgaria will work to implement its action plan by: (1) implementing its national AML/CFT Strategy through adopting a comprehensive action plan; (2) addressing the remaining technical compliance deficiencies; (3) demonstrat- ing initial implementation of risk-based supervision for postal money operators, currency exchange providers and real estate agents and establishing market en- try controls for VASPs and postal money operators; (4) ensuring that the beneficial ownership information held in the Reg- ister is accurate and up-to-date; (5) com- pleting the implementation of the auto- mated system to ensure more automated prioritisation of STRs; (6) improving in- vestigations and prosecutions of different types of money laundering in line with risks, including high-scale corruption and organised crime; (7) ensuring that con- fiscation is pursued as a policy objective; (8) ensuring the ability to conduct parallel financial investigations in all terrorism in- vestigations; (9) addressing gaps in the TF and PF targeted financial sanctions (TFS) frameworks; and (10) identifying the sub- set of NPOs most vulnerable to TF abuse and demonstrating initial implementa- tion of risk-based monitoring to prevent abuse for TF purposes. Bulgaria on FATF's grey list with AML/CFT deficiences Bulgaria now joins Croatia as the second EU country on the FATF's grey list THE transport sector represents a stag- gering 23 per cent of all energy-related emissions, and in response to this press- ing environmental challenge, Melita Limited would have succeeded in elim- inating over 40 tonnes of harmful emis- sions from Malta's roads by the end of the year. is ambitious goal is being achieved by converting 40 per cent of the com- pany's cars to electric vehicles. Melita has more than doubled the number of electric vehicles on its fleet over the last year as it continues its accelerated path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By 2025, Melita plans to have 90 per cent of its fleet converted to electric. e green initiative undertaken by Melita to replace conventional petrol cars and diesel-powered vans with elec- tric vehicles, has placed the telecoms service provider among the three top fi- nalists for next month's Malta Business Awards. Complementing this initiative, Melita employed an innovative parking app. By managing parking spaces more effectively, it continued to reduce the carbon footprint associated with ineffi- cient parking. Randolph Said, Chief Financial Officer at Melita Limited, said: "Phasing out conventional fuel-driven cars contrib- utes to our vision of breathing cleaner air and reducing pollution on our roads. Our recognition as a finalist in the Green Transport Initiative category of the Mal- ta Business Awards is a welcome recog- nition of the company's strong environ- mental credentials." Melita is a finalist under the Green Transport Initiative of the Malta Busi- ness Awards, which recognises the efforts of businesses, that have imple- mented measures to encourage the use of smart and sustainable transport initia- tives and increase operational efficiency. Melita accelerates its electric car adoption

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