CoE Commends Georgia's Legislative, Institutional Framework for Effective AML/CTF Measures
The 60th Plenary Meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval) has successfully approved Georgia’s 5th mutual evaluation report. The report assesses Georgia’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF) efforts, also evaluating the compliance of the country’s legislative and institutional framework with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations, and the level of effectiveness of the country’s AML/CFT system.
The Council of Europe, in its 5th evaluation report, commends Georgia’s impressive progress in 2013-2019 in terms of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism efforts, including the Georgian Government’s approval of the 1st National Report on Risk Assessment and the adoption of the Law on Supporting the Elimination of Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism, followed by upgrading the area’s legislation in line with international standards and strengthening risk-based approaches, also by further bettering local and international cooperation mechanisms.
The report by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism assesses the importance of the work carried out in this area by the Government of Georgia, Justice Ministry, Chief Prosecutor’s Office, State Security Service, Finance Ministry, National Bank, and Financial Monitoring Service.
The report by the Council of Europe’s Moneyval positively assesses relevant agencies and their awareness of the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in Georgia. The report emphasizes the effectiveness of the supervisory measures employed by the National Bank of Georgia, a decisive factor in ensuring the streamlined functioning of the anti-money laundering system in the financial sector.
According to the Council of Europe’s Moneyval, Georgia’s effective legislative and institutional system ensures effective investigation into and criminal prosecution of money laundering and terrorism financing offenses. The Moneyval Committee praises the measures taken by Georgia’s State Security Service in the past few years in order to identify and probe into cases of financing of terrorism.
In addition, the 5th evaluation report by the Moneyval Committee also contains recommendations for ensuring further improvements to Georgia’s legislative and institutional framework for eliminating money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and for its subsequent implementation.
The Council of Europe’s Moneyval Committee was established in 1997 to assess the compliance of the national anti-money laundering systems of the Council of Europe’s member states with international standards. Georgia became a member of the Moneyval Committee in 1999.