Despite significant progress in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, Qatar is being urged to improve its criminal justice response, especially in relation to terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force FATF said.
Smuggling, fraud, drug crimes, and corruption are among the dangers facing the country's risks of money laundering.
In addition, Qatar's citizens have become targets for funding efforts related to terrorism domestically and globally.
The recent joint assessment by the Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force MENAFATF and the FATF said that although Qatar demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks it faces, the nation needs to increase its grasp of more intricate forms of these illegal activities.
While Qatar established a risk-based approach to evaluate these risks and supervise the financial sector, the same level of scrutiny applied to the non-financial sector is in its early stages.
Qatar has received acclaim for its remarkable accomplishments in collecting beneficial ownership information for its nearly completed unified register.
The FATF warns that additional measures must be taken to ensure the collected information's accuracy and timeliness.
While the country's finance intelligence unit is well-respected and has access to a broad variety of information, the watchdog acknowledges that the nation's advanced analytical capabilities are under-utilised in identifying money laundering and terrorist financing activities.
The low rate of money laundering investigations and prosecutions has been a worrying issue.
The agencies have been encouraged to improve their investigation methods, particularly in identifying Qatar's potential role in complex or professional money laundering practices.
Although there are few terrorist financing convictions and prosecutions, there are significant differences between Qatar's risk profile and the number of prosecutions and convictions of terrorist financing activities.
The FATF recognized Qatar's efforts in monetizing large sums related to crime and prioritized international cooperation. It needs to improve its overall system for mutual legal assistance and extradition.
In addition, Qatar's framework for implementing targeted financial sanctions related to terrorist financing has been effective in acquiring a large number of assets.
The FATF urged the nation to shift its focus toward the enforcement of proliferation financing sanctions.