Iran has released the first list of individuals suspected of money laundering, an official of the Economy Ministry said.
The move is signal to the world that Tehran is serious in its fight against financial crime, head of the ministry’s Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) Hadi Khani said.
The list of 300 individuals includes those suspected of ties to money laundering networks identified in the past five months.
“We have sent this list to banks, insurance firms and the stock market and warned them about the purported records of the individuals related to money laundering,” Khani told IRIB News, Press TV reported. He did not name names.
This should convey Iran’s serious intention in fighting money laundering despite the country’s refusal to join any US-led money laundering alliance and initiatives, the FIC chief said.
“This will signal to the world that Iran is taking important and fundamental steps in fighting money laundering. “If Iran is not ready to accept (international money laundering) conventions it is because of the political agenda that exists behind such moves,” he added.
Khani was referring to Iran’s refusal to endorse conventions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog, based in France which is heavily influenced by the US and its sanctions polices against other countries.
Iran has endorsed all but two FATF conventions on the grounds that approving those protocols would endanger the country’s efforts to circumvent illegal American sanctions imposed on its economy for decades.
Khani said the ministry has plans to establish a special unit to fight money laundering, adding that the ministry is in the process of creating effective mechanisms to fight money laundering in all its modes and manifestations.
