Singapore's T Raja Kumar appointed president of global money laundering watchdog

SINGAPORE: Singapore's T Raja Kumar has been appointed as the president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog.

His appointment, which begins on Jul 1, is a for fixed two-year term. He was selected to succeed Dr Marcus Pleyer of Germany during the FATF plenary, which ended on Friday.

Mr Raja’s appointment marks the first time Singapore is taking on the organisation’s presidency, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint press release on Monday (Mar 7).

Mr Raja serves as a senior advisor at MHA and has been serving as head of Singapore’s delegation to the FATF since Jan 1, 2015. He has also been a member of the steering group, which provides advice to the FATF president, since July 2018.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established by the G7 in 1989 that sets international standards to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing.

“The FATF also evaluates and monitors member jurisdictions to ensure they implement the FATF standards fully and effectively,” MHA, MOF and MAS said.

Singapore has been a member of the organisation since 1992.

“Mr Raja has been active in leading Singapore’s efforts against money laundering and terrorism financing,” MHA, MOF and MAS said.

“He has served as co-chairman of the National Interagency Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism since January 2015 and driven Singapore’s efforts to meet FATF Standards."