Azerbaijan, Baku, July 10 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) during the 39th plenary meeting decided to lift the regime of formal report used in respect of Azerbaijan.
MONEYVAL took this decision, taking into account the progress toward fulfilling by Government of its recommendations, the State Securities Committee (SSC) of Azerbaijan said on Tuesday.
The meeting, which was also attended by the Azerbaijani delegation headed by the chairman of the Committee, Rufat Aslanli, was held in Strasbourg on July 2-6.
The agenda included a discussion of the fulfillment by Azerbaijan of the recommendations reflected in the "horizontal review" of MONEYVAL, prepared in 2010 based on reports from the third round of the joint evaluation, the report said. During the meeting, the Azerbaijani delegation presented a report on its work in this direction.
During the plenary session the results of the fourth round of the evaluation conducted by the State Committee in Latvia were discussed, and the report prepared by a member of the Azerbaijani delegation Anar Salmanov, speaking as an appraiser of Legal Affairs of Latvia was reviewed and approved.
In addition, the meeting approved the list of countries, whose progress reports will be heard at a regular 4th meeting. In particular, Azerbaijan was appointed rapporteur on legal matters in the second report on the progress of Moldova.
The meeting also discussed reports of countries which have shortcomings in implementing the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) under the "horizontal view" and "special monitoring regime," reports on a joint evaluation of several member states of MONEYVAL.
Azerbaijan has been represented in the MONEYVAL since 2002, after being a full member of the Council of Europe in January 2001. MONEYVAL has been holding the fourth round of assessments of the national systems of its member countries since 2010. 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 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.