ESAAMLG Pre Mutual Evaluation Workshop 26-28 April 2022

In a build up to the Second Round of Eastern and Southern African Anti Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Mutual Evaluation which Lesotho will undergo from July 2022 to November 2022, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) with the support of the ESAAMLG Secretariat, held A Pre-Mutual Evaluation workshop on 26-28 April 2022 at the Lesotho Avani Hotel. The workshop was attended by seventy participants from public and private sector.

The purpose of the workshop was to raise awareness of Lesotho’s international obligations in combating money laundering (ML), terrorist financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF) and to prepare participants for the upcoming ESAAMLG mutual evaluation. The evaluation will assess the extent to which Lesotho implements 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations against ML, TF and PF. The evaluation will focus on both technical compliance (laws, procedures and powers of institutions) and effectiveness compliance (the extent to which powers, procedures and laws are used to combat ML, TF and PF).

The workshop highlighted the critical role played by the Government Ministries, FIU, Sector Supervisors, Law Enforcement Agencies, and Accountable Institutions in the evaluation process.