MONEYVAL: Armenia recorded progress in fight against money laundering and financial terrorism

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 3rd round evaluation report on Armenia, as adopted at MONEYVAL's 30th Plenary meeting (21-24 September 2009), is now available for consultation, the committee's official Web site reports.



The report was prepared by the International Monetary Fund under co-operation agreements between IMF and MONEYVAL. The committee was additionally responsible for evaluation of compliance with the European Union directives, which are part of MONEYVAL's specific mandate.



The document provides a summary of the AML/CFT measures in place in Armenia and of the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40+9 Recommendations, and contains recommendations on how the AML/CFT system could be strengthened.



The Financial Intelligence Unit - the Financial Monitoring Center (FMC), established within the Central Bank of Armenia - is a young though very knowledgeable and active FIU, says the report.



The authors of the document find that Armenia has made considerable improvements in its AML/CFT framework in a relatively short timeframe, particularly by replacing a first AML/CFT law, enacted in 2005, with a more comprehensive law, which was passed in 2008. The new law needs to be implemented effectively, especially by DNFBPs.



According to the report, The Financial Intelligence Unit - the Financial Monitoring Center (FMC), established within the Central Bank of Armenia - is a young though very knowledgeable and active FIU.



The authors further note that the Armenian AML/CFT preventive measures for financial institutions operating in the financial system are comprehensive and provide for risk-based elements, and relatively close to the FATF Recommendations.



The money laundering offence is criminalized broadly in line with the international standards.



A range of technical deficiencies have been identified with respect to the terrorism offense.



With regard to seizure and confiscation framework, MANIVAL experts find that it needs to be further strengthened, in particular with respect to the predicate offenses.



MANIVAL will follow state parties' compliance recommendations via interim reports to be submitted a year after issuing the recommendations.