PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Justice has sharpened the direction of work related to the work against money laundering, terrorist financing and financing for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, with a goal of doing so until Cambodia is removed from the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) grey list.

In the Sub-Committee meeting on the Implementation of the Action Plan of the Joint Monitoring Group of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Thursday, 3 March, the Minister of Justice, Keut Rith, recommended solutions for the challenges of the three working groups in charge of financial investigation and sharpening the direction of further work to address the remaining issues in the ICRG-JG work activities, to ensure that Cambodia receives a better assessment on its ninth round progress report decided by the FATF General Assembly in the near future.

The Minister was quoted saying, "This effort is to get Cambodia off the grey list."

The three working groups to be examined are the first task force in charge of financial intelligence, the second task force in charge of financial sanctions on financing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and the third task force related to the investigation, prosecution and punishment of money laundering and confiscation.

Previously, on 21 February 2019, the World Anti-Money Laundering Watch placed the Kingdom of Cambodia on the list of countries most vulnerable to money laundering for the second time (also known as the 'grey list'). This ranking is made by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF), the world's most powerful anti-money laundering body.

The Sub-Committee on the Implementation of the Action Plan of the Joint Monitoring Group of APEC will continue its work to fulfill its mission of having Cambodia removed from the grey list.