Mohsen Rezaei: The CFT Bill Has Not Yet Reached the Expediency Council

Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, stated on Saturday, December 15, in a press conference: "We cannot comment on the CFT bill because it has not yet reached us." According to ISNA news agency, Rezaei emphasized that the council will not overlook the interests of the system and the people in examining the disputes between the Parliament and the Guardian Council. Ten days ago, representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly reviewed the Guardian Council's objections to the CFT bill during a session on December 5 and amended some of these objections to satisfy the council. However, with the insistence of the representatives on their resolution, the remaining objections from the Guardian Council were referred to the Expediency Discernment Council for review and decision-making. Now, Rezaei has stated that despite ten days having passed since the representatives' review, the remaining issues of disagreement between the Guardian Council and the Parliament have not yet reached the Expediency Council. In this press conference, Rezaei explained: "The anti-money laundering law is under review in the council" and predicted that "the review of this law will take several sessions in the council." Meanwhile, Majid Ansari, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, appearing on a television program broadcast by Channel 3, said: "The bill related to Palermo and CFT... has come to the council for the sake of expediency." Ansari also predicted that the four bills related to FATF would be approved in the Expediency Discernment Council. The CFT bill, which pertains to Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, is one of the four bills related to FATF that was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in mid-October and sent to the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council raised 23 objections to this parliamentary resolution at the end of its ten-day legal deadline and rejected it. Meanwhile, the Supreme Supervisory Board of the Expediency Discernment Council also raised its objections to this parliamentary resolution after the end of this legal deadline, which is an unprecedented action, as typically the Expediency Council intervenes to review and resolve laws only when there is a dispute between the Parliament and the Guardian Council, and both bodies insist on their opinions. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, criticized this behavior of the Expediency Council by writing a letter to the Guardian Council, stating that the Parliament would not address the council's objections to this bill. Meanwhile, the approval of the FATF-related bills, especially the overt and covert opposition from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and conservative critics of the government, has raised significant sensitivities in recent months. Last Friday, Kazem Sediqi, the Friday Prayer leader of Tehran, called for the rejection of these bills. The "Bill to Amend the Law on Combating the Financing of Terrorism," the "Bill to Amend the Law on Combating Money Laundering," two domestic legislative bills, and the "Bill for Iran's Accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism" known as the "CFT bill" and the "Bill for Iran's Accession to the Convention on Combating Transnational Organized Crime" known as the "Palermo bill," are two foreign bills from the government's four bills, which have been designed and drafted to meet the requirements and implement the regulations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but have been awaiting approval and finalization for years. Previously, Ali Larijani, the Speaker, and some other representatives had reported that European banks and even banks from "friendly countries" had stated that the condition for cooperation with Iran is the approval of the bills related to the implementation of FATF regulations. In the meantime, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani emphasized that if the bills related to FATF regulations are not approved, financial transactions for Iran will become 20% more expensive, and he stated that the costs of not approving these bills and the absence of the JCPOA should be communicated to the people and their opinions sought. The FATF expressed regret on October 19 that most of the issues related to Iran's commitments remain unresolved, while extending Iran's suspension from the group's blacklist for another four months, which was welcomed by Islamic Republic officials. The International Monetary Fund has advised Iran to implement anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures before the FATF's February 2019 deadline. While the struggle over the implementation of FATF regulations and meeting this body's requirements in Iran has continued for months, Israel was officially accepted as a member of the FATF on Tuesday, December 10. Israel's membership in this group has raised concerns among some experts in Iran, who speculate that Iran's acceptance into the FATF may become more difficult than before.