Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.3 / Trend, I. Khalilova /
In order to prepare specialists to participate in the fourth round of assessment of national systems of members of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) the organization organized a training workshop.
As the Financial Monitoring Service under the Central Bank of Azerbaijan said in its report, thw workshop was attended by 32 delegations from 21 countries, including from Azerbaijan. The training was held in Strasbourg (France) on July 25-29.
During the first three days of the event, participants fulfilled tasks on relevant methodological instructions to organize assessment based on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) including methods and techniques for special assessment. In the next two days, participants were divided into groups and carried out model assessment, and their activity results were assessed on an individual basis.
Two employees of the Financial Monitoring Service, who attended the training from Azerbaijan, received appraiser certificates from MONEYVAL, which gives a right to participate in the assessment of the committee member countries.
MONEYVAL started holding the fourth round of assessments of the national systems of its member countries in 2010. Slovenia and Hungary have already completed these procedures. Azerbaijan's assessment is included in MONEYVAL's working plan for 2013.
This assessment covers the effectiveness of the system and the practical application of legislation in the sphere of combating money laundering and financing terrorism.
Latvia's assessment, in which Azerbaijan first acted as an the appraiser of the legal and institutional aspects of combating money laundering and financing terrorism, was held in May 2011.
The Financial Monitoring Service was established in accordance with President Ilham Aliyev's decree dated Feb. 23, 2009. The monitoring will cover credit institutions, insurance and reinsurance organizations, the professional securities market, the leasing services of credit institutions, money transfers through post offices and other organizations, pawn shops, investment funds, transactions with precious metals and stones and purchase products, non-governmental and religious organizations, lotteries, and providing real estate services.