India, Qatar push to stem money laundering, terror funding

The financial intelligence units (FIUs) of India and Qatar met in New Delhi this week to strengthen information exchange and collaboration to combat money laundering and terror financing.

A nine-member Qatari delegation, led by Sheikh Ahmed Al Thani, visited India on 4-5 November to discuss IT systems, public-private partnerships, strategic analysis, and virtual assets, a government statement said.

The Indian side was led by Indian FIU head Vivek Aggarwal, a ministry of finance statement said, adding that the visit aimed to deepen ties between the financial intelligence units  of both nations.

The Ministry of Finance highlighted that FIU-Qatar commended India’s FINNET 2.0 system, a sophisticated platform designed to enhance information sharing and analysis in combating financial crimes, the ministry statement said, adding that the Qatari delegates were also keen on learning more about India’s initiative that encourages collaboration between private sectors to tackle these crimes.

For further understanding, the Qatari team also participated in two on-site visits, the statement added.

Both FIUs have a history of sharing information informally on financial crimes. As participants of the Egmont Group and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the two countries had previously agreed in a 2016 memorandum of understanding to exchange data on financial crime prevention.

Sheikh Ahmed Al Thani thanked Aggarwal for the hospitality and invited him to visit FIU-Qatar, the statement added.