The government reiterated this Tuesday, June 11, in Maputo, that the launch of the risk assessment report on Non-Profit Civil Society Organisations (NPSOs) in Mozambique is part of the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has placed the country under increased surveillance (“grey list”).
According to the deputy national director of Legal and Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MINEC), Miguel Nunes, the report responds, among various objectives, to the identification of organisations that may be vulnerable to the abuse of terrorist financing and money laundering crimes.
According to Agência de Informação de Moçambique, the FATF believes that all Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) may be at risk of abuse and calls on governments to guarantee measures that do not disrupt the associations’ operations.
He explained that NPOs have played an extremely important role, working in difficult conditions so that they complement government activity.
For the national coordinator of Policies for Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, Luís Cezerilo, the launch of the evaluation report also fits in with Law 15/2023 of 18 August on preventing and combating the financing of terrorism. “The impact it has is that, in the first respect, it will strengthen our institutions. We’re going to get out of this cancer of speculation,” he said.
The source said that at the meeting held on 6 June in Cape Town, South Africa, there was a pre-assessment of the report to remove Mozambique from enhanced surveillance. The same report is expected to be ratified in Singapore on 23 and 24 June.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the Centre of Learning and Capacity Building of Civil Society, a civil society organisation, Paula Monjane, explained that the report is intended to identify some vulnerabilities and not to go after Non-Profit Civil Society Organisations (NPOs).
“There were important vulnerabilities that should be followed up, whose mitigation measures should respond to the constitution of a multisectoral group to guarantee the continuity of this work that has begun,” said Paula Monjane.
The activist stressed that the FATF’s idea is not to persecute Non-Profit Organisations, but to protect them. She also pointed out that, so far, there is no evidence to suggest that an organisation is being used to finance terrorism. However, he did point out that there are three suspected cases under investigation.
