CoE urges Armenia to fight money laundering

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

The Council of Europe has urged Armenia to develop an effective national policy to investigate and prosecute money laundering.

This was stated in the first report published by MONEYVAL on January 28in the 5th Mutual Evaluation. The report recommends an action plan to address the shortcomings.

The CoE experts have revealed significant weaknesses in the investigation and prosecution of money laundering in Armenia and have urged the authorities to take immediate action to ensure that law enforcement efforts are fully commensurate with the money laundering risks faced by the country.

The biggest danger in terms of money laundering includes fraud, tax evasion, smuggling and theft.

“Fraud, tax evasion, contraband and embezzlement pose the highest threats in terms of money laundering. Within the Armenian economy, the banking and real estate sectors are the most vulnerable to money laundering. Financial intelligence is gathered very effectively, but law enforcement does not often make effective use of it to develop evidence, trace, seize and confiscate criminal proceeds from money laundering,” the statement reads.

Earlier the Global Competitiveness Report 2014 unveiled the oligarchy-controlled monopoly in Armenia, ranking the former Soviet nation 105th among 144 countries in terms of the effectiveness of antitrust policy.

The Global Financial Integrity disclosed that about 1.25 billion was taken out of Armenia in 2012. It is $63 million more than the figure in 2011.

The Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012 Report claimed that Armenia faced nearly $7.5 billion illegal cash takeout over the period from 2003 to 2012, as a result of government corruption, tax evasion and other illicit financial dealings.