04 June 2004 21:48
FATF praises Russia but says laws need improving
MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax) - Russia has achieved considerable success in the campaign against money laundering and
against the financing of terrorism in the last few years, but needs to improve legislation in the sphere, Claes Norgren,
president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said at the Corporate Governance and Economic Growth in Russia
conference.
Norgren said the FATF was proud of what the Russian government had achieved.
He said he was particularly grateful to Viktor Zubkov, the head of Russia's Federal Financial Monitoring
Service, for his self-sacrificing effort.
Norgren said Russia had not only achieved success of its own in the fight against money laundering and terrorist
financing but was also creating an organization to clamp down on illegal money in the CIS.
But Russia still needs to improve its laws and economic environment to stimulate economic growth, he said.
A crucial aspect of this work is the certainty that local and foreign investors and society as a whole have
confidence in the business climate. This means the country must have the right sort of corporate governance, one able to
deter offenses like money laundering, the financing of terrorism and corruption, Norgren said.
Another problem is that law enforcement agencies are finding it hard to solve crimes related to money laundering and
the financing of terrorism because they are so covert, yet they are causing considerable damage. Norgren said that as
far as he knew Russians were aware of those threats and that the law enforcement agencies had the information they need
to expose them. [RU ASIA EUROPE EEU EMRG FIN LOA BUS] pr
[Interfax] |
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