London pushes to take Saudis off EU dirty money blacklist

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain is leading a group of European Union states who are trying to block an EU plan to include Saudi Arabia and 22 other jurisdictions on a blacklist of countries that pose money-laundering and terrorism financing threats, sources said. Two of the sources said EU states’ reluctance to endorse the list was mostly driven by concerns over the inclusion of Saudi Arabia and Panama on the list. Two senior officials of the EU Commission said that Brussels was, however, not inclined to bend to pressure and would formally adopt the list, with Saudi Arabia in it, in the coming weeks.

Source: www.reuters.com