GGRAsia – Former boss of Singapore casino regulator to lead FATF

Former boss of Singapore casino regulator to lead FATF

Mar 09, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog against money laundering and terrorism financing, has appointed a former chief executive of Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) as FATF president for a two-year term up to 2024.

T Raja Kumar will start work on July 1, succeeding Marcus Pleyer, FATF said in an announcement, which followed an FATF plenary meeting last week.

Mr Raja had served as inaugural chief executive of the CRA from April 2008, to June 2011. He oversaw implementation of the city-state’s casino regulatory framework, and participated in the International Association of Gaming Regulators.

He had also spent effort in “championing various innovations relating to casino regulation”, such as the casino licence application system, according to an official release of CRA from 2011.

Mr Raja, who has also served in other prominent public-sector roles in Singapore – including as a deputy commissioner responsible for policy, at the Singapore Police Force – is the current head of Singapore’s delegation to the FATF. He is also a member of the steering group that provides advice to the FATF president.

“Raja has a long history of contributing to FATF’s work. I look forward to Raja, as president, bringing together law enforcement authorities, financial sector and other anti-money laundering/combatting the financing of terrorism supervisors, as well as private sector stakeholders to achieve effective outcomes,” said Singapore’s Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai, in comments included in a release from the country’s Monetary Authority.

The document also had comments from Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam.

He stated: “Raja’s capabilities, international experience, and work as a senior public sector leader, operating in a multi-ethnic and multicultural environment across a range of disciplines, will come in useful to lead an international organisation such as the FATF.”

Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority had been formed on April 2, 2008 as a statutory board under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The city-state is now aiming to establish a new body, the Gambling Regulatory Authority, in mid-2022, which is to serve as a single regulator of all forms of gambling.