Deputy PM urges extra efforts to remove Vietnam from money laundering grey list

The FATF added Vietnam to the list in June 2023. Immediately after that, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) advised and submitted to the Prime Minister for signing Decision 194/QD-TTg promulgating the National Action Plan to implement the Government's commitments to preventing and combating money laundering, terrorism financing, and financing for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Phoc, who is head of the Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee, stressed the need for ministries and sectors to prioritise resources to implement the action plan committed to the FATF; pay attention to the reporting regime to ensure comprehensive and vivid reports; notify the implementation results to and ask for technical support from the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) every 3 months and on an ad-hoc basis when requested, through the SBV - the standing agency of the steering committee.

He urged ministries and sectors to proactively study the FATF's recommendations and their methodology, the requirements of the FATF/APG joint group, and the documents provided by the central bank to implement them and prepare reports to send to the FATF/APG.

The Deputy PM assigned the central bank to compile information from ministries and sectors to report to the Prime Minister on a quarterly basis, and promptly connect with countries that have been added to and exited the grey list to organise exchanges and share experiences on related topics.

In addition, Phoc assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant ministries and sectors to allocate quality personnel for translating their specialised documents to ensure accuracy and effectiveness.

All of these efforts are to show the FATF that Vietnam is striving to implement the recommended actions, from drafting legal documents to complying with legal regulations, including the launching of legal proceedings against and investigations into money laundering cases, he added.

SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung said that by the time of the second Progress Report (PR2) in September 2024, eight out of 17 actions had passed their deadlines. Despite certain efforts, according to the evaluation by the FATF/APG joint group, Vietnam has 16 out of the 17 actions marked as "not completed," with only one labeled as "partially completed." Given the limited progress, the APG has informed that FATF is considering placing Vietnam on its list of countries with High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action (black list).

Representatives of ministries and sectors discussed matters related to coordination efforts; the implementation of actions committed to the FATF; the improvement of the legal system; dissemination of information to raise public awareness of legal knowledge; inspection, supervision, and the fight against crimes. They also focused on learning from and referencing international experiences to further enhance the effectiveness of the prevention and control of money laundering, terrorism financing, and financing for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction./.