The role and effectiveness of regulatory authorities in combating money laundering and terrorist financing crimes facing the non-profit organization sector (Case Study of the Non-Profit Organizations Sector in Palestine) رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the effectiveness of the regulatory authorities in combating money laundering and terrorist financing crimes (as a case study of the non-profit organization sector in Palestine), by reviewing these procedures and determining their compliance with the requirements and standards of the eighth recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, which is specialized in the non-profit organizations sector, and determines the effectiveness of these bodies in combating financial crimes (money laundering and terrorist financing) to which this sector is exposed and highlighting the shortcomings in order to ensure the full commitment of the State of Palestine in achieving the requirements of the recommendation and to take the measures and procedures that ensures the necessary protection for the sector from these crimes. In her attempt to answer the research questions, the researcher sought to divide the study into two chapters. The first chapter deals with the organizational and legal framework for the non-profit organization sector in Palestine and the definition of financial crimes, in order to extrapolate the practical practice of the sector’s regulators in combating the crime of money laundering and terrorist financing by reviewing their procedures in line with the requirements of the eighth recommendation of the recommendations of the FATF, in the second chapter. To achieve the goal of the study, the descriptive analytical method was adopted in the study as well as the analysis of these procedures and the texts of laws regulating the non-profit organization sector. The study also used interviews with the sector’s supervisory authorities and the questionnaire for the non-profit organizations sector as a tool for scholar research by answering the study’s questions. The number of non-profit organizations in Palestine until the year 2020 reached (3,797) local and foreign organizations. The questionnaire was X distributed to the original study population of (349) individuals, and (299) questionnaires were retrieved at a rate of (86%) of the total number of distributed (349) questionnaires. The research also relied on the approach and comparative analysis of the experiences of the countries in three criteria of the eighth recommendation of the non-profit organizations sector to some extent as a cognitive tool that helps to know the similarities and differences in certain parts and reasons in terms of the available information. The researcher reached a main conclusion that the effectiveness of the supervisory authorities on the non-profit organizations sector was the result of the commitment of the supervisory authorities to apply the texts of the law enacted for this sector, as these legal texts included many good procedures that enhance compliance with some of the requirements and standards of the eighth recommendation. These measures were not limited to the crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing, and the important joint for laying eyes on these crimes, which paved the way for the process of strengthening procedures and compliance, was the prior step taken by the Palestinian authorities in carrying out the assessment process for the threats and weaknesses of the non-profit organization sector which indicates the desire and commitment at the national level to protect this sector from the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, and the country's awareness of being a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) of the importance of mutual evaluation that measures the effectiveness of the money laundering and terrorist financing system in the country. The study recommended the need to organize training and awareness sessions for workers in the non-profit organizations sector and for workers in supervisory authorities at different functional levels focusing on the correct understanding of international standards and the requirements of the eighth recommendation and the possibility of harmonizing between the application of these standards and the carrying out of legitimate activities in a way that XI ensures that these organizations perform their mission and objectives, and work on developing and activating the control mechanisms of the supervisory authorities over the process of financial and administrative reports and not keeping it in its traditional framework of receiving it in its formal form only, training employees in the supervisory authorities on the basis of analyzing these reports, and building a database to track the flow of aid to non-profit organizations to form a clear picture of the financial resources and grants provided to the organizations, and the importance of this rule is to ensure that the organizations sector of all kinds (associations, civil bodies and non-profit companies) remain at the same level of the financial control process, in light of the current different procedures followed for each of them.