How to prevent strongmen from hijacking the fight against dodgy money

CATCHING criminals across borders is hard. Court decisions made in one place may not be enforceable in another. Police powers are usually local, and information-sharing and extradition treaties are rare. To remedy this the world’s major powers have created institutions with mandates that cover much of the globe. The International Criminal Court (icc) investigates suspects for genocide, war crimes and other grave offences. Interpol issues “red notices”, which are akin to international arrest warrants. Perhaps the most obscure is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which also has the hardest job: stopping globe-trotting villains from moving money around the world.

Unfortunately these institutions are increasingly abused, and the fatf is no exception. Just as the icc has become a venue for political “lawfare” and Interpol has made it easier for autocrats to have dissidents-in-exile arrested, so the fatf’s mighty powers are being hijacked by strongmen looking for another way to crack down on their opponents, as we report this week. It is a sorry trajectory for an organisation with an important mission. The FATF must be reformed—or the global fight against dirty money will itself be corrupted.