MONEYVAL Committee Satisfied with Azerbaijan�s Actions to Combat Money Laundering

Baku / 03.10.17 / Turan: At the plenary meeting of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures to Combat Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) of the European Council held in Strasbourg last week, a new report on the progress of Azerbaijan in these areas was discussed. As reported by the Financial Markets Supervision Authority (FIMSA), the Committee approved the report of the Azerbaijani government following the discussions.

The international network of investigative journalists in September this year revealed the laundering of 2.9 billion US dollars in 2012-2014 with the participation of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) and the Estonian bank Danske Bank. These amounts settled in the bank accounts of high-ranking officials in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other persons for questionable purposes.

During the discussion of the report, the MONEYVAL secretariat pointed out that Azerbaijan had achieved "tangible progress" over the past 3 years and fulfilled many obligations to unify with international standards on the regime for combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The report of the Azerbaijani government lists measures to reform the financial system and implement the recommendations of MONEYVAL. The delegation from Azerbaijan led by the chairman of the FIMSA Board of Directors Rufat Aslanli participated in the meeting.

It is noteworthy that among other reasons that led to the actual bankruptcy of the IBA, the Ministry of Finance cited an example of transfer of billions of US dollars to offshore accounts, allegedly for the implementation of some projects and secured by collateral in securities. The fate of these funds is not known. The government does not respond to scandalous publications in international media about laundering $ 2.9 billion. No criminal proceedings have also been instituted against these dubious banking transactions. ------08D