20.05.2013
Belarus regularly updated by Egmont on suspicious transactions
MINSK, 20 May (BelTA) - Belarus gets a wealth of information on money laundering operations from the Egmont Group, the head of the Financial Monitoring Department at the State Control Committee (SCC) of Belarus Vitaly Prosvirov told reporters.
“Belarus has been actively cooperating with Egmont since 2007 when we joined this organization,” said Vitaly Prosvirov. As part of this interaction Belarus receives a significant amount of financial information relating to transactions suspicious of being money laundering by some citizens and businesses. "The Department checks into this information and where there were sufficient grounds put a stop to these financial operations," said Vitaly Prosvirov. Since 2012, with the help of the information from the Egmont Group, we have initiated criminal proceedings and recovered more Br96 billion to the budget of Belarus, he said.
Of course, financial intelligence does not disclose all the details of their cases, but there is evidence that some Belarusian firms cash significant amounts of money abroad, noted Vitaly Prosvirov. "We get such information from our foreign counterparts," he said.
Vitaly Prosvirov also reported on the active cooperation of Belarus with the Russian financial intelligence unit. The information exchange with Russian colleagues allows getting important information and information technology plays a huge role in this. “IT is the foundation of financial intelligence,” said Vitaly Prosvirov. Criminals take advantage of the loopholes in the legislation, and financial intelligence should anticipate how criminals can make use of this loophole. Therefore, the emphasis is on IT. With its help, analysts see financial operations, identify risks and criminal schemes and then supply such information to law enforcement agencies,” he noted.
On 20 May Minsk played host to the workshop on exchange of experience in use of information technologies for conducting financial analysis with a view to Anti-Money Laundering, and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
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. Now Egmont brings together the financial intelligence units form 130 countries united by a common goal of forming a collective mechanism to strengthen mutual cooperation and information exchange that would contribute to the detection and deterrence of money laundering and subsequently – terrorist financing. The Department of Financial Monitoring of the State Control Committee of Belarus is a member of the Egmont Group since 2007. The Russian financial intelligence, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, joined the Egmont Group in 2002.
The Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG) was founded on 6 October 2004 with a view to uniting efforts to combat crime in the financial sector and reduce the threat of international terrorism. The group includes nine states, 14 are observers. Belarus is a member of the EAG.
“Belarus has been actively cooperating with Egmont since 2007 when we joined this organization,” said Vitaly Prosvirov. As part of this interaction Belarus receives a significant amount of financial information relating to transactions suspicious of being money laundering by some citizens and businesses. "The Department checks into this information and where there were sufficient grounds put a stop to these financial operations," said Vitaly Prosvirov. Since 2012, with the help of the information from the Egmont Group, we have initiated criminal proceedings and recovered more Br96 billion to the budget of Belarus, he said.
Of course, financial intelligence does not disclose all the details of their cases, but there is evidence that some Belarusian firms cash significant amounts of money abroad, noted Vitaly Prosvirov. "We get such information from our foreign counterparts," he said.
Vitaly Prosvirov also reported on the active cooperation of Belarus with the Russian financial intelligence unit. The information exchange with Russian colleagues allows getting important information and information technology plays a huge role in this. “IT is the foundation of financial intelligence,” said Vitaly Prosvirov. Criminals take advantage of the loopholes in the legislation, and financial intelligence should anticipate how criminals can make use of this loophole. Therefore, the emphasis is on IT. With its help, analysts see financial operations, identify risks and criminal schemes and then supply such information to law enforcement agencies,” he noted.
On 20 May Minsk played host to the workshop on exchange of experience in use of information technologies for conducting financial analysis with a view to Anti-Money Laundering, and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
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. Now Egmont brings together the financial intelligence units form 130 countries united by a common goal of forming a collective mechanism to strengthen mutual cooperation and information exchange that would contribute to the detection and deterrence of money laundering and subsequently – terrorist financing. The Department of Financial Monitoring of the State Control Committee of Belarus is a member of the Egmont Group since 2007. The Russian financial intelligence, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, joined the Egmont Group in 2002.
The Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG) was founded on 6 October 2004 with a view to uniting efforts to combat crime in the financial sector and reduce the threat of international terrorism. The group includes nine states, 14 are observers. Belarus is a member of the EAG.