DUSHANBE, July 19, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan is intensifying work on cooperation with organizations combating money laundering.
An official source a the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) says Tajik central bank is currently working on introducing requirements of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The NBT submits reports on implementation of the requirements and participates in plenary meetings of FATF and the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG).
The NBT Department for Financial Monitoring is cooperating in this direction with financial intelligence units of other countries.
“The next plenary meeting of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units took place in St. Petersburg from July 9 to July 13 and representatives of Tajik central bank attended that meeting,” the source said. On the sidelines of the meeting, the NBT Department for Financial Monitoring signed of understanding with Ukraine’s State Financial Monitoring Service on cooperation in combating money laundering and terrorism financing.
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is an informal international gathering of financial intelligence units (FIUs). The Group was formed in 1995, and took its name from the palace in Brussels where the meeting took place.
FIUs are national centers to collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions required to report transactions suspicious of being money laundering or terrorism financing. FIUs are normally not law enforcement agencies; their mission is to process analyze the information received. If sufficient evidence of unlawful activity is found, the matter is passed to the public prosecution.
The Egmont Group defined an FIU as a central, national agency responsible for receiving (and, as permitted, requesting), analyzing and disseminating to the competent authorities, disclosures of financial information: 1) concerning suspected proceeds of crime and potential financing of terrorism; or 2) required by national legislation or regulation, in order to counter money laundering and terrorism financing.
The goal of the Egmont Group is to provide a forum for FIUs around the world to improve cooperation in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism and to foster the implementation of domestic programs in this field.
