Enhancing South Sudan's Anti - Money Laundering and Counter - Terrorist Financing Act: Analyzing the 2024 Amendment in Compliance with International Standards

Background: Money laundering and terrorist financing pose significant challenges to global financial security. South Sudan has undertaken legal reforms through the 2024 Amendment to its Anti - Money Laundering and Counter - Terrorist Financing Act (AML/CFT) to align with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the amended Act in addressing financial crimes and evaluates its alignment with FATF?s 40 recommendations. The study employs a black - letter positivist approach and comparative legal analysis. Key findings reveal gaps in institutional enforcement, regulatory compliance, and financial intelligence capabilities. The study suggests reforms to enhance legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms to ensure full compliance with international AML/CFT standards. Materials and Methods: The author conducted a systematic review of published research to meet the study objective (Soundararajan et al., 2018). The existing literature reviews on the topic explore various aspects of money laundering. The data sources for past reviews were mostly policy documents and reports related to money laundering, along with their aims, methods, key findings, and main differences between past reviews and our present review. One method to assess the clarity of the 2024 Amendment to the Anti - Money Laundering and Counter - Terrorist Financing Act, 2012, is through "black - letter" positivist analysis. Another approach is to utilize comparative legal analysis. Results: To reform the defunct financial system, the South Sudan government should domesticate ratified conventions and implement necessary reforms outlined in the recent amendment. The findings highlight shortcomings, such as a lack of awareness, insufficient cross - border regulation, corruption, tax evasion, and the involvement of Designated Non - Financial Businesses (DNFBs), especially in real estate transactions. Therefore, understanding money laundering could form the basis for a more efficient battle against transnational crime organizations. Research Limitation: There are some issues with the research, though. For example, there are no official statistics or records of money laundering in South Sudan. Additionally, limited empirical research on money laundering crimes hinders the ability to conclude criminal proceedings.