Kuwait’s measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

Kuwait has an adequate legal and supervisory framework to address illicit finance, but has serious shortcomings delivering effective outcomes, including its understanding, investigation and prosecution of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FATF/MENAFATF mutual evaluation report of Kuwait assessed the effectiveness of Kuwait’s measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, and their level of compliance with the FATF Recommendations.

Kuwait is a high-income country with low levels of violent crime but that nevertheless faces money laundering risks from crimes that include fraud, corruption, forgery and offences committed abroad. The country is exposed to terrorist financing risks from terrorist acts and terrorist groups operating outside of the country.

Kuwait has a basic understanding of the money laundering risks it faces at a national level and only a low understanding of its terrorist financing risk. Authorities need to refine their understanding of these risks, including by carrying out comprehensive risk assessments of the non-profit organisation and virtual asset service provider sectors and of the misuse of legal persons for money laundering.

Kuwait has increased the number of money laundering investigations, but authorities face challenges in securing money laundering convictions without proving the underlying predicate offence. Most of the prosecuted money laundering cases relate to simple cases of self-laundering.

Given Kuwait’s risk profile, the terrorist financing investigations and prosecutions appear limited, with cases often failing to reach conviction at trial. Kuwait has a legal framework to implement targeted financial sanctions for terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, the actions necessary to freeze assets with links to terror or proliferation are not reflected in the legal framework. Without this legal underpinning in domestic law, these actions are unenforceable.

Kuwait has conducted a risk assessment of its non-profit sector, but it needs to take a more risk-based approach to protect the non-profit sector from terrorist financing abuse and not disrupt and discourage legitimate non-profit activity.

Kuwait’s financial intelligence unit produces information to launch money laundering inquiries and investigations, but terrorist financing investigations are mostly the result of foreign intelligence. Kuwait has made it a policy objective to confiscate proceeds of crime and law enforcement have been able to confiscate valuable assets, including properties and assets located abroad.

Banks and larger financial institutions have a good understanding of their risk and obligations, but supervisors for both the financial and non-financial sectors (DNFBPs) need to focus more on beneficial ownership. A lack of understanding means Kuwait has no complete and reliable beneficial ownership information.

Article Credit: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/Mutualevaluations/MER-Kuwait-2024.html