MNA – The Expediency Council is holding a session Saturday to discuss the bill on the country’s accession to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, known as Palermo Convention in Iran.

Today’s session follows the one held on February 16 which ended without a conclusion.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati, Iranian Vice-President for Legal Affairs Laya Joneydi, and Minister of Economy Farhad Dejpasand are also attending today’s session of the Expediency Council.

The Palermo bill had been once examined in the Guardian Council and then in the high supervisory board of the Expediency Council, where the bodies found some flaws with it and referred it back to the Parliament. However, the Parliament insisted on its endorsement and returned the bill to the Expediency Council for the final verdict.

Together with the bill on Iran’s accession to the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT), Palermo is a controversial FATF-related bill that Iran has been requested to endorse in order to join the anti-money laundering watchdog and get off the body’s blacklist.

The Palermo bill needs at least two third of the votes today to be endorsed by the Expediency Council.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchdog said on Feb. 02 that it has extended Iran's deadline to June to strengthen its anti-money laundering legislation.