TEHRAN(Basirat): The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a leverage used by the United States and its allies to confront independent nations, said the chairman of the economic committee of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations.
Ebrahim Sheibani, in a recent exclusive interview with the Islamic
Republic News Agency (IRNA), posited that despite the fact that FATF is a
tool in the hands of Washington and its allies, it should not be viewed
as black or white issue.
'We can act on some of the
recommendations of the [intergovernmental] body,' Sheibani said, adding
that some of the FATF's recommendations, though, could not be followed
by Iran or other countries either.
The Iranian economist said that the US is not expected to give up FATF as a tool under its control.
'FATF
is comprised of 35 or 36 member states but they try to give a global
aspect to their recommendations, and the United States, in particular,
benefits substantially from this trend,' Sheibani argued.
He also said that as a bank expert he believed that the US remains to be high on the list of global money launderers.
Frankly speaking, I believe that the US is a country infested with money launderers, he said.
But
nobody could track this because all the deals are made bsed on dollar
and there is no one to monitor monetary transactions conducted by the
US, Sheibani said.
That is why the world nations are forming financial alliances to end the dollar hegemony, he said.
'Presently,
almost 50 nations have considered setting up financial alliances to
conduct transactions using their national currencies,' Sheibani said.
Some
of these countries, he added, 'gradually gained power and started to
distance themselves from dollar-based transactions, doing business with
their own national currencies.'
Such financial alliances are
expected to be successful and Iran can rely on them to promote its
foreign trade, Sheibani stressed.
'Iran, along with India,
Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, is now a member to the Asian Clearing Union
(ACU) which makes its settlements first based on national currencies and
then with dollar,' Sheibani said.
He added that other countries
including South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as
some of the European countries, have joined similar financial alliances.
Euro is now turning to be a major currency to vie against
dollar, and even China's Yuan and Russia's Ruble are increasingly
gaining importance, he said.
But he stressed, if members of such financial alliances are to make them prevail, they should adapt their economies.
Returning
to the issue of FATF and its approaches and functions, the Iranian
economist and former governor of the Central Bank of Iran criticized the
requirements of the inter-governmental body as being far-reaching and
bullish.
'They require us to approve laws, provide reports on the
financial operations of legal persons and individuals, asking for every
single detail, and alleging that they do all these for transparency and
for creating an appropriate and secure environment for everybody,'
Sheiban said.
'But as I mentioned earlier, they are using FATF as a leverage to confront our country,' he stressed.
According to the Iranian economist, parts of FATF's obligations and requirements 'are negotiable'.
'I took my time and studied the requirements and found part of it rather ironic,' Sheibani said.
FATF
alleges that it has introduced effective, appropriate and preemptive
penalties for those involved in money laundering, he said.
'We
accept such measures and follow FATF's recommendations in this regard,'
said the chairman of the economic committee of Iran's Strategic Council
on Foreign Relations, adding that the Iranian Parliament has also
approved anti money laundering laws.
Iran is against money laundering and terrorism; The country has never provided terrorists with financial support, he emphasized.
'So,
part of FATF's recommendations and requirements are not acceptable and
Iran has called for them to be modified, including the requirements
pertaining to confronting financial support for terrorism,' he said.
'There
are groups that are fighting against foreign occupation, arrogant
powers and racism and Iran has called on FATF members to modify its
approach in this regard,' he said.
'For instance, there is the
Lebanese Hezbollah, a very neat and straight group of fighters defending
the country,' Sheibani said.
'Naturally Iran cannot designate
as terrorists fighters who are standing against arrogant powers and
occupiers,' he stressed, adding that Iran does not recognize
interpretations by FATF in this regard.
The Iranian economist said that he was 'neither optimistic nor too pessimistic about FATF.'
'It should be something in between,' he said.
'In general, FATF is a means to keep us under control.'
Source:IRNA