Post by anenro on Sept 16, 2021 16:31:01 GMT 4
Anti-laundering unit goes off-grid, fraying Afghan ties to global finance
A unit in Afghanistan’s central bank leading a 15-year effort to counter illicit funding flows has halted operations, four staff members said, threatening to hasten the country’s slide out of the global financial system.
Since 2006, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Afghanistan (FinTRACA) has gathered intelligence on thousands of suspicious transactions and helped convict smugglers and terrorist financiers, according to its website.
UN officials have said the Taliban, who seized Kabul on Aug. 15, made hundreds of millions of dollars from the drugs trade and other illicit sources when they were fighting government troops. The group has vowed there would be no drug cultivation in Afghanistan from now.
Information on FinTRACA’s website indicated the Taliban were among those in its sights, while the staff Reuters spoke to said the group had been a target since its launch.
They declined to be named because of fear of reprisals owing to the sensitive nature of their work.
With the Islamist militant movement back in power, the absence of a functioning financial intelligence unit (FIU) could curtail Afghanistan’s links to the international financial system and to lenders abroad, some experts warned.
A unit in Afghanistan’s central bank leading a 15-year effort to counter illicit funding flows has halted operations, four staff members said, threatening to hasten the country’s slide out of the global financial system.
Since 2006, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Afghanistan (FinTRACA) has gathered intelligence on thousands of suspicious transactions and helped convict smugglers and terrorist financiers, according to its website.
UN officials have said the Taliban, who seized Kabul on Aug. 15, made hundreds of millions of dollars from the drugs trade and other illicit sources when they were fighting government troops. The group has vowed there would be no drug cultivation in Afghanistan from now.
Information on FinTRACA’s website indicated the Taliban were among those in its sights, while the staff Reuters spoke to said the group had been a target since its launch.
They declined to be named because of fear of reprisals owing to the sensitive nature of their work.
With the Islamist militant movement back in power, the absence of a functioning financial intelligence unit (FIU) could curtail Afghanistan’s links to the international financial system and to lenders abroad, some experts warned.