Mauritius: registered on its blacklist of the European Union
Mauritius has been included, since Thursday, October 1, 2020, on the blacklist of countries suspected of participating, indirectly, in money laundering and terrorist financing. This sanction endangers its offshore banking services, an essential sector of its economy. Decidedly, this year 2020 will remain engraved in the history of Mauritius, after the covid-19 crisis which generated an unprecedented economic crisis and forced the country to close its borders for 6 months, and has just been placed on the blacklist of countries suspected of participating voluntarily or involuntarily in the financing of terrorism and in the laundering of “dirty” money. The threat had been in the air for months. On June 19, 2020, the Official Journal of the European Union reports that the Mauritius jurisdiction is on its blacklist. In the process, the leaders of Mauritius approached Europe to plead its good faith and ask for a delay in order to meet Europe’s demands. 12 countries on the EU’s blacklist on Thursday 1 st October 2020 Mauritius is not the only country to have taken this step. In fact, almost all of them tried to avoid this blacklisting. The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mongolia, Myanmar (ex-Burma), Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe are included in the list. Certainly, Mauritius is not alone, but this “sanction” will seriously accentuate the crisis in its economy. The banking sector and offshore trade had become the main source of its income and represented an important part of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as shown by the World Bank analysis. 35 of the 40 recommendations adopted Mauritius is therefore forced to react and renounce the opacity that surrounded its banking sector. It must be content to be an island paradise, but no longer be a banking paradise. The EU is also ready to help countries on the black list to get out. Europe relied on the reports of the Financial Action Group to establish its listing and therefore proposes solutions.
