The Philippines may be a step towards exiting the anti-money laundering gray list. But underground offshore gaming could put them two steps back.
Even though the Philippines has banned offshore gaming hubs, there's still a risk of "dirty money" flowing through the system, a Moody’s analyst warned, as underground operations of offshore gaming operators (POGOs) persisted.
Philippine authorities are currently cracking down on some 11,000 remaining foreign POGO workers in the Philippines, who are now undocumented for.
For Choon Hong Chua, head of the financial crime practice group for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Moody’s, it’s a race against time which would hamper the country’s efforts to permanently exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list.
“We’ve seen examples in the past when some of the scam centers were masquerading as call centers and data centers,” Chua said in a Bloomberg news article.
The IMF and FATF earlier recognized the Philippines' significant progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The Philippines has largely completed its FATF action plan, a set of measures designed to address weaknesses in its financial system.
These improvements include stricter oversight of vulnerable sectors like casinos and real estate, enhanced casino junkets and remittances controls, improved access to beneficial ownership information, increased law enforcement efforts, and stronger measures against terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
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