As the arbiter of countries' compliance in the fight against money laundering, the regional organization ESAAMLG, an offshoot of the Financial Action Task Force, meets from 24 November to 4 December. Three countries are playing to their reputation: Mauritius, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Scheduled for 24 November to 4 December, the annual meeting of the regional anti-money laundering institution, the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) is to decide on the fate of three countries: Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. All three failed on the blacklist of countries for money laundering that the European Union (EU) published in October (Africa Intelligence of 22/05/20).

Chaired this year by Eswatini's Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg, ESAAMLG is a window of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international anti-money laundering institution set up by the G7, in particular to implement United Nations treaties. The FATF continues to work closely with the UN.

It was indeed under the impetus of the FATF, the UN, but also the Commonwealth and the US government that the ESAAMLG was created in 1999. e FATF relies on the regular evaluation reports carried out by the regional organisation on its member countries to draw up its lists of States. whether or not it considers to be dangerous in terms of money laundering.

Ball of the European and international institutions

The latter are in turn used by other international institutions such as the UN, the OECD - which shares its Paris headquarters with the FATF - or the EU to list certain countries or even sanction them. The ESAAMLG is very much influenced by the decisions of the EU, which works closely with the FATF. Thus, in October, when the European Union published its blacklist, the FATF and ESAAMLG placed on theirs, "under increased surveillance", several countries in the region: Botswana, Mauritius, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Hence the importance for member countries to comply with ESAAMLG's expectations. They are only represented in the FATF through the ESAAMLG, with the exception of South Africa, which also has full status.

African finance wants to take care of its reputation

Unlike Uganda, which had been on the EU blacklist since 2016, Botswana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe were added in October. Botswana now fears a deterioration in its trade with Belgium, a trading partner notably via the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) in Antwerp. The AWDC is one of the main destinations for Botswanan gems.

The new EU list also upsets Zimbabwe: the country wants to make itself financially attractive. At the end of October, it launched its Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, after decades of currency crises and political instability, in order to attract foreign investors, whose capital is necessary for the economic recovery desired by Harare (Africa Intelligence of 15/06/20).

As for Mauritius, it wants to maintain its status as an offshore place to receive investments directed towards Africa: it therefore wants to maintain a good financial reputation (Africa Intelligence of 29/05/20).