The Government is looking for mechanisms to prevent that the exploration and commercialisation of precious metals and gems in the country may serve to launder capitals and to finance terrorism.
In fact, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy held this Friday (30), in Maputo, a meeting on “Sectoral Assessment of Risks of Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Weapons of Mass Destruction”.
Bringing together representatives of the Government and private sector operators in the area of exploration and marketing of precious metals and gems, the meeting’s central point was to capitalise on the contribution of the mineral resources sector to the country’s removal from the Financial Action Group (FATF) grey list.
In recent years, according to the deputy minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, António Saíde, the diversity of natural resources and the geostrategic location of Mozambique have attracted national and foreign investment that, through structuring projects, has increasingly contributed to the economy, not only in terms of revenue capture and employment generation, but also for industrialisation.
“Our country went through a compliance assessment process carried out by the FATF and it was concluded that it did not have compliance and effectiveness in matters of money laundering, financing of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction,” he said.
The governor explained that risk assessment is an intrinsic activity to the development of preventive systems and the fight against these scourges, in line with the FATF’s 40 recommendations, contained in the 2012 report.
António Saíde also pointed out that the country conducted in the period between July 2020 and March 2021 the “Assessment of the Risks of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism”, in order to identify the threats, vulnerabilities and the understanding of the risks.
“From the general analysis, it was concluded that the combination of factors, such as geographical location and lack of means make the country prone to illegal activities, with manifestations of organised crime, especially of a transnational nature, especially human and drug trafficking, vehicle theft, smuggling, extortion, illicit trafficking of precious metals and stones, timber and poaching,” he sustained.
In the case of mineral resources, the governor pointed out that the dealers of precious metals and stones are high with a growing trend, but assured that the Government has been guiding all the sectors to make sectorial evaluations so that they help the country to achieve efficiency and effectiveness according to the FATF recommendations and the withdrawal of Mozambique from the grey list.
