Members of parliament were forced to amend the law which deals with money laundering and terrorism after it emerged that government had less than a week to shape up or face sanctions from the international community.<\/p>\n
Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Erastus Uutoni tabled the amendment to the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism Activities on Wednesday in the National Assembly and asked the amendments to be passed the same day without discussions as time was not on their side.<\/p>\n
The National Council also passed the Act yesterday after amendments.<\/p>\n
Namibia is expected to be reviewed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Sunday \u2013 an international standards body focused on anti-money laundering and criminalising financing terrorism.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Albert Kawana was one of the many senior government officials who warned that Namibia will face sanctions if the country does not comply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do not comply, there will be dire consequences, once our country is declared as not cooperating. It means we will never move any money outside Namibia and we will not receive any money from outside Namibia. Our commercial transactions will come to hold and that will be devastating to Namibia,\u201d he said…<\/p>\n