Controls on dirty money

estate agents and casinos. The government lacks the ability to monitor the cash economy, which is large by international standards, and involves many cross-border transfers.

The report highlights SA’s weaknesses in identifying “political exposed people” whose participation must be flagged in financial transactions. After resisting legislative amendments passed by parliament in 2015, which introduced the concept of politically exposed people into the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, the administration of then president Jacob Zuma was forced to relent and implement the act in 2017.

At the time, SA’s reluctance to put it into practice brought it close to greylisting by the FATF.

A major shortcoming in the SA system is that it is often legally not permissible for agencies that monitor and investigate financial crimes to share information. For instance, while the Financial Intelligence Centre monitors suspicious transactions, the records are confidential and cannot be shared, even, for instance, with the Treasury. The report flags that SA rarely uses available international cooperation to pursue the perpetrators of financial crimes in SA.

Treasury deputy directorgeneral Ismail Momoniat said the weaknesses identified by the report reflect the state’s general weakness in investigation of financial crimes. “The interdepartmental team led by the director-general of the Treasury will look at the approach to financial crimes,” he said.