Grey Listing Presents South Africa a Unique Opportunity to Eradicate the Scourge of Corruption in Government and Publicly Owned Utilities But Action Must be Swift says SARCOE ThinkTank

South Africa Greylisted in Q1 2023.

News that South Africa has failed to meet its international obligations to reducing money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is not welcome news, despite the Government’s efforts to address the legacy of the state capture era.

But growing links between the South African Justice Ministry and South Africa Regional Centre of Excellence in Integrity (SARCOE) demonstrate a growing relationship that can provide expert support to help eradicate corruption and leave the legacy of state capture behind as well as helping to remove the nation from the FATF Grey List.

Training and education are critical requirements to providing investigators and prosecutors with key skills to identify, investigate and prosecute corruption.

SARCOE, based at Stellenbosch University, is equipped with the skills and expertise to develop and deliver state of the art training to the public and private sector in anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and the conduct of risk-based due diligence, and can help design, implement and monitor appropriate anti-money laundering programmes.

South Africa Greylisted. Training and Education could be the key to exiting the FATF Greylist

Positive steps already taken by the Government include the endorsement by Justice Minister Hon. Ronald Lamola MP of the South Africa Regional Centre of Excellence in Integrity (SARCOE), and his agreement to become one if its first patrons, along with leading figures including Adv Shamila Batohi (National Director of Public Prosecutions) and Professor Thuli Madonsela (a former Public Protector of South Africa).

Professor Lee Marler, Co-Founder and Director of SARCOE said, “It is critical that if South Africa is to exit its current greylisting quickly that the efforts of the Government to eradicate corruption are backed up by training that includes anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and investigative techniques that equip key personnel with state of the art knowledge and skills that will enable them to deliver the Government’s counter corruption strategy.”

Not only has Ronald Lamola MP endorsed SARCOE, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and SARCOE have reached a Memorandum of Understanding whereby SARCOE will deliver training to a select group of the NPA’s investigators and prosecutors 

This training will ensure that the knowledge exists within organisations so that they fully conform with the requirements of the relevant anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regulations as well as other financial crimes, and enable the Government and regulatory authorities to improve the integrity compliance and counter corruption environment in South Africa. 

Professor Lee Marler, Co-Founder and Director at SARCOE said, “South Africa’s Greylisting by the FATF is not unexpected, but the impact on South Africa is likely to be significant. Both private and public sector organisations will be subject to far greater due diligence and increased cost of doing business both at home and overseas as the financial sector particularly looks to manage its exposure to increased risk, and that will have a negative impact on GDP and the economy.”

Professor Marler continued, “Whilst the South African Government has made steady progress in addressing the deficiencies in the 2021 FATF report, significant change is still required. High on the list of priorities is training and education, which SARCOE stands ready to provide, so we welcome the growing relationship between SARCOE, the National Prosecuting Authority and Justice Minister Hon. Ronald Lamola MP.”

More about the impact of the FATF greylist in our briefin