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Kuwait faces significant shortcomings in its efforts to combat terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has warned. In its latest mutual evaluation report, the Paris-based organization highlighted that Kuwaiti authorities struggle to investigate and prosecute suspected cases of terrorist financing, pointing to serious gaps in the country’s policies.
While the FATF acknowledged that Kuwait has an “adequate” legal framework to address illicit finance, it issued a stark warning regarding the nation's vulnerability. Kuwait, bordered by Iran to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south, is “seriously exposed to terrorist financing risks and terrorist groups operating outside of the country,” the report said.
“Kuwait has a basic understanding of the money laundering risks it faces, and only a low understanding of its terrorist financing risk,” the FATF stated. “Given Kuwait’s risk profile, the terrorist financing investigations and prosecutions appear limited, with cases often failing to reach conviction at trial.”
Though the country has certain powers to combat terrorist activity, such as imposing financial sanctions, the FATF found that key actions to freeze assets linked to terrorism or proliferation were not fully supported by the necessary legal infrastructure. “Without this legal underpinning in domestic law, these actions are unenforceable,” the FATF warned.
Despite having a financial intelligence unit capable of producing information to initiate money laundering investigations, the report criticized Kuwait’s reliance on external sources for terrorist financing investigations. “Most terrorist financing investigations in Kuwait are the result of foreign intelligence,” the FATF noted.
The evaluation makes clear that Kuwait’s current approach to terrorist financing leaves it exposed to significant risks, calling for substantial improvements in its legal and operational frameworks to effectively address these threats.
By fLEXI tEAM
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