In the new report published today, Council of Europe's anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL calls on Azerbaijan authorities to further strengthen measures to combat money laundering (ML), the financing of terrorism (TF) and financing of proliferation, in particular in the areas of preventive measures and supervision.
The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the country's level of compliance with standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Since 2014, when MONEYVAL last evaluated Azerbaijan, the country has taken several actions to strengthen its legal and institutional framework to tackle money laundering, the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and has started to put in place the elements of an effective AML/CTF system.
MONEYVAL notes that Azerbaijan has achieved a substantial level of effectiveness for countering terrorist financing and that the authorities have demonstrated their ability to successfully investigate TF offences (seven convictions were secured during the reference period). Similarly, in international cooperation, Azerbaijan achieved a substantial level of effectiveness and was commended for the authorities' capacities to provide and seek constructive assistance. MONEYVAL's evaluation report on Azerbaijan notes that the country demonstrates a fair understanding of ML/TF risks, according to which domestic corruption, tax related crimes, smuggling and drug trafficking are the main ML predicate offences.
