A key global anti-corruption body has blacklisted eight countries for alleged money laundering and terrorism financing, and stepped up calls for sanctions against Iran, the US government said Friday. The Financial Action Task Force has "identified eight countries that have strategic... deficiencies in alleged money laundering and terrorism financing," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The FATF, an inter-governmental body aimed at countering illicit financial transactions that could be used to promote terrorism, named Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Sao Tome and Principe on its blacklist for posing "a risk to the international financial system."
"The US Treasury Department welcomes the FATF statements this week identifying countries with strategic deficiencies in the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism," the department said. "We also welcome FATF's renewed call today for its members and all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures to protect their financial sectors from the money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Iran."