Thursday, July 14 2011 16:02
Head of Central Bank of Armenia: Effective fight against money laundering to raise the country's rating
ArmInfo. About 500 mln AMD has been confiscated in favor of Armenia's state budget as a result of fight against money laundering, a similar amount was directed to compensation for the damage, Head of the Financial Monitoring Center of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Daniel Azatyan told journalists in Yerevan during the 19th plenary session of Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
According to him, in 2010 the Financial Monitoring Center exchanged over 50 data with the law- enforcement bodies. In addition, in 2010 about 10 criminal cases were instituted on charge of money laundering, verdicts were delivered. Azatyan said that in 2010 the Financial Monitoring Center received nearly 80 requests from foreign bodies of financial intelligence and sent a similar number of requests to its foreign partners.
For his part, Chairman of the Central Bank Artur Javadyan said that an effective fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism will raise the country rating of Armenia, as well as the confidence of international partners. The chief banker said that Armenia attaches much importance to the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism, development of relevant systems and structures in the country, as well as to enhancement of effective cooperation with international structures. Javadyan pointed out that by the Armenian president's decree, an interdepartmental structure operates in the country, which includes all bodies combating money laundering, including the Prosecutor General's Office, National Security Service, Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry, State Revenue Committee, Court of Cassation, Central Bank, as well as the President's Administration.
"The fight against these phenomena is not an aim in itself for us. It is more important to ensure stable economic and financial development, improve the level of the citizens' welfare by removing these phenomena", he stressed.
To note, the Financial Monitoring Center of the CBA has been a full member of Egmont Group since 29 May 2007. Today its members are financial intelligence bodies of nearly 120 countries.
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