“In what mood is the Ministry of Finance preparing for the next FATF session?”
“October 7-11 FATF will consider the question of Ukraine, because our country is on the well-known list of the states that do not cooperate sufficiently with this institution in terms of combating money laundering. As for Ukraine, existence of corresponding legislation or, rather, its absence, is the only problem. The draft law has been approved in first reading and already prepared for the second one. But, unfortunately, the Verkhovna Rada has not yet considered it. Hopefully, the bill will be considered this week, for that is, in fact, the last chance for us to solve the question in due time.”
“Will Ukraine propose being excluded from the so-called blacklist of the states not fighting against money laundering?”
“Even existence of the law is not enough for considering the question of being excluded from the list. Passing of the law will be followed by a so-called monitoring year, during which they will be examining how the country enforces legislation. For instance, Russia adopted a similar law almost a year ago and is currently being in the monitoring period. We lag behind Russia for about a year.”
“How real is now the danger of sanctions against Ukraine?”
“I don’t believe it possible, for there has not been any precedent so far. But this is undesirable, I must admit. The FATF worked out a procedure for applying sanctions, and the measures are extremely unpleasant. They include closing or freezing correspondent accounts of banks, seriousness of which needs no explanation, I believe.”
“The list of transactions that can be qualified as preparation for money laundering is known to provoke a lot of objections among the deputies. The case in question is, for instance, delay in repaying currency proceeds by exporters. Is the government ready for a compromise?”
“Only a limited number of crimes should be considered among those preceding money laundering, i.e., the so-called predicate crimes. The government supports this viewpoint.”
“How do you rate the chances for the draft on money laundering control to be passed by the Verkhovna Rada?”
“The profile committee has completed the draft for considering in the second reading and also approved the governmental version by a majority. We do have mutual understanding in that respect. It is now a question of audience, because we need to get 226 yeas or even more to make sure the bill will be passed. This is why the last governmental meeting was dedicated to cooperation with people’s deputies.”
“Some parliamentary groups are known to object in principle to adopting the law On Fighting Money Laundering because it provides for creating the so-called financial intelligence service. Politicians in the opposition are rather afraid the body may become the same means of economic and financial control as businessmen believe
tax officials are. Could you comment on that?”
“At the deputies’ level there is a number of opinions concerning the work place and conception of the organ and the whole procedure as well. There is also a certain anxiety that it will become another law enforcement body. But it has been formed as a part of the Ministry of Finance, and the fact is to be comforting, since the Ministry of Finance is not at all a law enforcement body.”
