TV host and former volleyball player Gretchen Ho revealed that one of her relatives was unable to exchange U.S. dollars at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo after being flagged due to an outdated “dirty money” gray list.
In a social media post, Ho shared that her mother was denied service at a foreign exchange counter, where staff even asked if they were from the Philippines.
According to Ho, they were told they couldn’t exchange money because the Philippines was allegedly associated with corruption and money laundering.
In response, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that officials from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry would coordinate with relevant agencies to review and remove the Philippines from Norway’s list of countries deemed at high risk for money laundering and terrorist financing.
The DFA clarified that the counter was following an outdated reference list, which still included the Philippines under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list.
It can be recalled that the Philippines was officially removed from the FATF gray list last February, and from the European Union’s gray list in August of this year.
(PHOTO COURTESY: GRETCHEN HO | FB)
