Monaco’s annual judicial back to work’ ceremonies took place on Monday, October 2, with a service in the Cathedral, a solemn procession, and speeches in the courthouse, the Palais de Justice.

But it wasn’t a repetition of platitudes that marked the speech of the recently-appointed Attorney General, Stéphane Thibault.
Instead, the former top Parisian lawyer launched into a warning about the consequences of Monaco going onto the so-called grey list of uncooperative states in the context of transparency and reporting.

Prefacing his comments with the term “zone of turbulence” caused by the highly critical Moneyval report of January this year, Mr Thibault said that the financial and banking security that prevails in the Principality could be weakened if Monaco is included on the list of states that present strategic deficiencies in the regime for combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation – designated as the grey list.

He added that the fight against money-laundering will be the top priority (le premier objectif) of the judicial system for the 2023-2024 judicial year that opened yesterday.

Mr Thibault went on to make it personal, saying: “I would like to tell those who would deliberately choose to violate the law to participate in the laundering of illegally acquired funds that I will do everything possible to identify them and prosecute them before the competent courts.”

PHOTO: Monaco’s judicial office holders file into the Cathedral Monaco Government Press Service

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