South Programme

Component 2: Good governance and the fight against corruption and money-laundering

Fighting corruption, money-laundering and terrorism financing is a high level priority for all countries in the region and for the Council of Europe.

Namely, the objective in this area is to promote good governance through increased prevention of corruption and money laundering on the basis of the relevant Council of Europe standards, mechanisms and instruments, and to improve the basic framework for regional co-operation in this respect.

It is expected that the main Council of Europe and European Union standards and best practices in terms of mechanisms and instruments to control and combat corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing are introduced into the beneficiary policy framework and institutional setup. Subsequently, the relevant capacities of the judiciary and law-enforcement agencies are increased and the basic framework for regional co-operation is improved.

In recent years, Morocco has acquired a wide range of laws and an institutional setup to combat corruption. The Anti-Corruption Action Plan, lasting from 2012 until 2016, contains measures to prevent and combat corruption and provides for appropriate policies underlining international co-operation.

The process of democratic transition in Tunisia requires lasting reforms in the fight against corruption and money laundering, on the basis of international standards. In two resolutions the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on Tunisian authorities to “take resolute steps to curb corruption and to implement urgent social and economic reforms with a view to creating normal and equitable conditions for all those involved in the economy”.

One way the Council of Europe can help – in both Morocco and Tunisia – is through the methodologies worked out by its Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), using their tools and networks. Both can identify priority areas for further prevention and law enforcement reform, to enhance institutional capacities and to prevent and combat corruption, money-laundering and terrorist financing offenses.

The activities carried out included:

• the evaluation of the institutional, legal and policy framework for fighting corruption, money-laundering and terrorism financing, following the monitoring methodologies of GRECO and MONEYVAL.
• the submission to the authorities of recommendations on the legal framework of the judiciary, and other issues related to this sector
• the proposal of governance indicators for measuring corruption trends
• the proposal of participation in the necessary networks for an efficient action against corruption
• the proposal of an action plan setting up the priorities to fight corruption, money-laundering and terrorism financing, including, as appropriate, the strengthening of the audit and investigation capacities of the beneficiary countries' administration and the design of awareness-raising campaigns
• the implementation of tools and networks supporting the cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) in order to increase the exchange of financial information on the European and international mechanisms and, particularly, information related to money-laundering and terrorism financing and specifically the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Moroccan legislation on money-laundering and terrorism financing.

For additional information.