Azerbaijan to present report on fight against terror financing
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan’s progress in fight against the financing of terrorism will be discussed at the 49th plenary meeting of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) in Strasbourg, France.
Azerbaijani delegation headed by Chairman of the State Securities Committee Rufat Aslanli will join the event that will last until December 11. The delegation will present a report on the progress made in this field in the country.
Azerbaijan is actively fighting against money laundering and financing of terrorism in the country. Nevertheless, MONEYVAL experts earlier stated that additional measures are necessary to ensure the Financial Monitoring Service under the Central Bank more freedom.
In its latest report published in April, MONEYVAL called on Azerbaijan to step up efforts to improve the methods of combating money laundering and financing of terrorism by addressing the identified shortcomings and take effective measures in this area.
The country should present preliminary report on the measures taken to address the identified shortcomings to MONEYVAL this December.
To address the shortcomings, amendments were made to the legislation in November that expanded the powers of the Financial Monitoring Service. The new powers allow the Service to freeze the assets of persons suspected of money laundering and financing terrorism. Activities over the freezing of assets of individuals and entities should continue until the court decision.
MONEYVAL holds evaluation of the system for combating money laundering and terrorist financing in its member countries to bring it into line with international requirements.
The assessment is made by an expert committee of the Council of Europe on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism for compliance with 49 standards of the Financial Action Task Force.
Azerbaijan is represented in MONEYVAL since 2002. MONEYVAL’s fourth assessment of the national system to combat money laundering, and fight legalization of other possessions of criminal origins and financing terrorism in Azerbaijan was held in 2014. The fifth assessment might be held in 2020.