Lebanon has been added to the global anti-money laundering watchdog's “grey list” of countries that are subject to increased monitoring of financial transactions.
The decision by the Financial Action Task Force comes as the war between Hezbollah and Israel has killed about 2,500 people and displaced about 1.4 million in Lebanon. The country has been struggling since 2019 with one of the worst economic crises in modern history, which has been blamed on decades of corruption and financial mismanagement by the country's elite.
Elisa de Anda Madrazo of Mexico, which currently holds the FATF's rotating presidency, said it was not a punitive measure and was part of the process of helping countries develop action plans to make improvements.
“Of course, we recognise the extremely grave situation that Lebanon is currently facing,” she said.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the listing was “expected, considering the known circumstances, which hindered the establishment of the required legislation and financial reforms”.
“Lebanon will continue to co-operate” with the FATF and will follow up on the move to have it reversed, he added.
Ms Madrazo said “there was a degree of flexibility granted to Lebanon as it relates to the deadlines set in the action plan”.
“Lebanon's status on the grey list should not impede relief efforts. We are working to make sure that channels of humanitarian aid remain open,” she added.
The FATF noted that Lebanon had made some progress since May 2023, including “through issuing a circular for banks and financial institutions to establish a department dedicated to combating bribery and corruption-related crimes and guidance on politically exposed persons, while taking measures against unlicensed financial activity”.
Even before the year-long conflict broke out between Israel and the Lebanese armed group and political party Hezbollah, Lebanon was largely failing to implement reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in order to access a bailout.
The war has further hampered the reform process, and exacerbated the challenges that the country's ailing economy was struggling under.
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Contracted list
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
The%20specs
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THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
%E2%80%98FSO%20Safer%E2%80%99%20-%20a%20ticking%20bomb
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LEADERBOARD
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Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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