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Azerbaijan to submit report on anti-money laundering to MONEYVAL until late 2016

01 April 2015 [14:00] - TODAY.AZ

Azerbaijan will submit a report on progress in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing to the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) until December 2016, said the report of MONEYVAL, published on the website of the Council of Europe.

Azerbaijan is also required to submit an expedited report on action taken to address certain significant shortcomings in December 2015.

“The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering Committee (MONEYVAL) calls on Azerbaijan to intensify efforts to improve its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing system, by addressing the identified deficiencies and taking effective measures for the implementation of the Money Laundering (ML) offence,” said the report.

The report said that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is a strong actor within the anti-money laundering/combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) system of Azerbaijan, albeit additional safeguards are needed to ensure that the FIU is free from any undue influence or interference.

MONEYVAL said that law enforcement agencies are insufficiently trained to conduct financial investigations in ML/FT cases and their ability to identify, trace and seize proceeds of crime is restricted by limited access to financial information.

Additionally, the level of reporting of ML and FT suspicions by financial institutions, except for banks, is low, said the report.

Azerbaijan has been represented in the CE Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) since 2002, following the country's full membership to the Council of Europe in January 2001.

MONEYVAL carries out evaluation of the system of anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism in order to bring it into line with international requirements in member countries of the organization. For this purpose, evaluation mission of the organization visited Baku on February 17-22, 2014. The evaluation results were approved during the 46th plenary session of MONEYVAL, held December 8-12 in Strasbourg.


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