EZULWINI – The Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg opened the four-day workshop for Parliamentarians to appraise them on the processes that the country goes through in order to retain its Eastern and Southern Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) peer review seat on Monday.
The workshop which ends on Thursday, facilitated by the ESAAMLG secretariat, targets both members of parliament, House of Assembly and Senate Finance Committees.
“I welcome you all to the Parliamentary workshop. On behalf of the Kingdom of Eswatini, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the ESAAMLG Secretariat for this initiative,” he said.
The ESAAMLG Secretariat in their Counter Financing of Terrorism Plan (CFT Plan) identified the need to raise awareness, across ESAAMLG member countries, including Eswatini, for the Members of Parliament who are responsible for formulating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing laws and the implementers of these laws.
The plan aims to develop an understanding of Terrorism Financing for member countries within the ESAAMLG Region, and to capacitate ESAAMLG Member countries on understanding terrorism financing risks as well as developing strategies to mitigate the risks. In the last three years, Eswatini published the Mutual Evaluation Report in 2022 and has also made strides in addressing the technical compliance gaps identified by amending the AML/CFT legislation.
Eswatini passed the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, in 2024, which substantially addresses the deficiencies that were flagged by the ESAAMLG assessors on money laundering and terrorism financing gaps. In February 2025, Eswatini requested for a re-rating on fifteen (15) Recommendations. Minister Rijkenberg said the Follow Up Report and Technical Compliance Re-rating request will be discussed and adopted during the ESAAMLG Task force of Senior Officials Meeting in August 2025.
“The strides that the country has made would not have been possible without the collaboration and coordinated efforts shown by the financial sector, especially through the efforts made by the AML/CFT National Task Force. I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the valuable work and efforts done by the National Task Force in ensuring the integrity of the financial system,” the minister said.
Minister Rijkenberg also said there was a need for enhanced collaboration among stakeholders in order to fully comply with international standards of combating money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
“His Majesty’s Government remains with a huge task of implementing the provisions of the AML/CFT/PF legislation as the FATF Standards and international standards evolve. The Government of Eswatini does not want to find itself playing catch-up in complying with these evolving international standards,” he said.
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