Port Moresby, Wednesday 18th March 2026 – Papua New Guinea is not doing enough to meaningfully respond to the recent grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) says Transparency International PNG (TIPNG). Despite reassurances by state officials, it is TIPNG’s view that the grey-listing signals that the international community no longer trusts PNG’s ability to stop criminals from hiding or moving ‘dirty money.’ In a statement, TIPNG says PNG can only address these concerns when the police and courts act to end the culture of impunity for those breaking the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law.
“The greatest barrier to securing our financial system is the state’s failure to successfully prosecute lawbreakers,” said TIPNG Chairman, Mr. Peter Aitsi. “When those moving ‘dirty money’ face no consequences, it undermines our entire system of accountability. The only way to leave the grey-list is for collaboration between agencies and the successful enforcement of PNG’s Anti-Money Laundering laws. Failure to do so means our economy will face serious and lasting damage.”
“The recent ruling by the Supreme Court in the Yafai case speaks to the inter-agency challenges in prosecution that need to be overcome. The appropriate lessons in prosecution need to be learned as quickly as possible if PNG is to make meaningful progress in its anti-money laundering efforts.”
“To support this, TIPNG calls for the quarterly publication of progress reports against the FATF benchmarks. The public deserves to be informed about which of the 23 agencies are performing and which are lagging, particularly as grey-listing will raise the cost of living for ordinary Papua New Guineans by making international banking and trade more expensive,” said Mr Aitsi.
In October 2025, TIPNG co-hosted the inaugural AML/CTF/CPF Conference with the Bank of PNG (FASU). This forum brought together financial institutions and businesses to align on compliance measures. The key outcome of this landmark conference was to identify actions and actors to restore confidence in PNG’s. anti-money laundering framework. The holistic approach of the conference, complements the strategic approach of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on AML chaired by the Department of Justice and Attorney General.
