The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental institution responsible for evaluating measures
in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, first ranked Tunisia, in
December 2015, among the high-risk and/or non-cooperative jurisdictions, then, in January 2018, in the
category of states under surveillance. In the process, the country joined the blacklist of 17 countries not
tax cooperatives established by the European Union. This September 15, at a time when Tunisians
will vote, a group of FATF experts will examine the efforts made to ensure compliance with the rules of
financial compliance. A decisive visit so that Tunisia is no longer considered a
questionable jurisdiction.
In seventeen months, the Tunisian government adopted an action plan coordinated by the Central Bank of
Tunisia (BCT) and the Tunisian Commission for Financial Analysis (CTAF). By adapting its legislation and
strengthening its control and surveillance capacities, Tunisia provided answers to 36 of the 40 points
failures noted by the FATF. To tick all the boxes, the country also amended the 2015 law on
fight against terrorism and the repression of money laundering. In February 2019, a decree on the freezing of
terrorist funds and the fight against arms financing was enacted. " We are in
learning, but this is how institutions are born", says the governor of the BCT, Marouane
Abasi.
The next president will have to ensure the implementation of the obligations of non-financial professions –
lawyers, accountants, real estate agents… – in the fight against money laundering and
the financing of terrorism. It will also have to ensure the effectiveness of the national business register, which facilitates
the identification of the real beneficiaries behind each legal person. The FATF also requires
the application of a system of financial sanctions linked to the financing of terrorism, and monitoring
appropriately from the associative fabric.