The Government of Mauritius released a communique in January 2021 reiterating its commitment to exit FATF’s ‘countries under increased monitoring’ list (also referred to as the “FATF Grey List") at the earliest.

At a virtual face-to-face meeting between the Mauritian Delegation, headed by the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius and FATF African Middle East Joint Group on Friday 22 January 2021, Mauritius was once again lauded for the continuous progress made in the implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

As was communicated in our past editions¹, Mauritius was placed on FATF Grey List in February 2020, following which the country was placed on the EU High Risk Third countries list (referred to as the “EU Blacklist"). Since then, the Government has worked towards amending its strategic deficiencies within its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. We recall the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of the Financing of Terrorism (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020, as well as two progress reports sent – one in March 2020 and another one in November 2020 - as part of the Action Plan designed to have Mauritius exit FATF Grey list at the earliest.

At the FATF Plenary Session held in February 2021, the report of the assessors as well as due clarifications received from the Mauritius representatives and the Second Progress Report were taken into consideration. The FATF took note that Mauritius should continue to address its strategic deficiencies through the following approaches:

1. implementing risk-based supervision plans effectively for The Financial Services Commission and relevant Designated Non-Financial Business and Professions (DNFBP) supervisors and increase the diversity of STR filing, especially among higher risk sectors;
2. ensuring the access to accurate basic and beneficial ownership information by competent authorities in a timely manner;
3. demonstrating that law enforcement agencies have capacity to conduct money laundering investigations, including parallel financial investigations and complex cases;
4. implementing a risk-based approach for supervision of its NPO sector to prevent abuse for TF purposes; and
5. demonstrating the adequate implementation of targeted financial sanctions through outreach and supervision.

It is important to note that in January 2021, the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (“ESAAMLG") issued its 3rd Follow-up Report (the “Report") for Mauritius following a re-rating exercise on the compliance status of Mauritius with regards to the FATF 40 Recommendations. According to the Report, Mauritius is on the overall compliant, largely compliant and partially compliant on 39 Recommendations out of the 40 Recommendations.

¹ Our past publications on the EU blacklist can be accessed at below links:
Dec 2020: HERE
Oct 2020: HERE
June 2020: HERE
May 2020: HERE