Press Release / / 04.02.19
Urgent Report Exposes Dangerous Failures by the Bashir Regime to Comply with International Anti-Corruption Standards
Washington, D.C. – A new alert released today by The Sentry warns of the severe risks for money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activity in the Sudanese financial system.
The Sentry Alert, “Sudan’s Anti-Corruption Whitewash: The Bashir Regime’s Hollow Commitment to Combating Illicit Finance,” details how the Sudanese government has protected deeply entrenched systemic corruption and continues to flout international anti-corruption standards, including those of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the main intergovernmental body charged with regulating and monitoring anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT).
Sudan is now in the 14th week of peaceful mass protests that have spread across the country, demonstrations in which corruption has been a core issue. Violent crackdowns by the Bashir regime have included the torture and killing of peaceful protestors.
John Prendergast, Founding Director of the Enough Project and Co-Founder of The Sentry, said: “Kleptocrats like Bashir use the same money laundering techniques as criminals and terrorists. Sudan’s weak anti-money laundering controls leave the entire country open to abuse by Bashir’s inner circle in Khartoum, but also to exploitation by criminal and terrorist networks operating in the country and region. This report exposes how dangerous the illicit finance situation is now in Sudan, and how the Sudanese government has failed to implement global anti-money laundering standards. The United States should act now with network sanctions targeting those responsible for grand corruption, grave human rights abuses, and threats to global security and the integrity of the international financial system.”
The Sentry Alert’s detailed comparison of the laws and policies in place in Sudan and the recommendations set forth by the FATF shows that the Sudanesegovernment’s efforts to counter money laundering and terrorist financing are vastly inadequate. This inadequacy creates tremendous risk for international financial institutions and businesses operating in Sudan, and the regime’s reluctance to implement sufficient anti-money laundering measures demonstrates an unwillingness to tackle its own rampant corruption.
Joshua White, Director of Policy and Analysis at The Sentry and the Enough Project, said: “Despite receiving relief from U.S. sanctions, the Bashir regime continues to steal from its people and commit widespread human rights abuses. It should be no surprise that the Sudanese government, which itself is the main culprit for widespread corruption, has failed to take serious steps to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The high-risk nature of doing business in a country where those in charge are notorious for obfuscating illicit financial activity should deter international banks from allowing their institutions to be exploited by criminal and terrorist networks.”
As revealed in previous reports by The Sentry and its strategic partner the Enough Project, Sudan’s governing institutions have been coopted by a corrupt inner circle that has maintained power by unleashing a brutal and repressive security apparatus on the Sudanese people.
Dr. Suliman Baldo, Senior Advisor to the Enough Project, said: “The massive corruption of the regime of President Bashir has driven the nation’s economy to near collapse. Rather than killing and torturing citizens who rise up peacefully and call for end to corruption and repression, the Bashir regime should take accountability for its own economic mismanagement and system-wide criminality.”
The Sentry alert proposes three sets of critical recommendations to the Sudanese government, to the U.S. government, and to U.S. banks:
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
RECOMMENDATIONS TO U.S. BANKS
Click here to read The Sentry alert.
For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Megha Swamy at [email protected] or +1-202-580-7671.
ABOUT THE SENTRY
The Sentry is an investigative team co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast that follows the dirty money and builds cases focusing on the war criminals most responsible for Africa’s deadliest conflicts and the corrupt transnational networks that profit from them. The Sentry’s team is composed of financial forensic investigators, international human rights lawyers, regional experts, and former law enforcement agents, intelligence officers, policymakers, investigative journalists, and banking professionals.
The Sentry currently focuses its work on South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. The Sentry aims to create significant financial consequences for kleptocrats, war criminals, and their international collaborators through network sanctions, anti-money laundering measures, prosecutions, compliance action by banks, and other tools of financial pressure. These measures aim to disrupt the profit incentives for mass atrocities and oppression, and create new leverage in support of peace and human rights. The Sentry and its partner the Enough Project undertake high-level advocacy with policymakers around the world as well as wide-reaching education campaigns by mobilizing students, faith-based groups, celebrities, and others.
Since its launch in 2016, The Sentry has created hard-hitting reports and converted extensive investigative research into a large volume of dossiers on individuals and entities connected to grand corruption, violence, or serious human rights abuses. The investigative team has turned those dossiers over to government regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and around the world, as well as to officials at the world’s largest banks through which so much of the dirty money flows.
Learn more at www.TheSentry.org.