Azerbaijan Urged to Strengthen Money Laundering Investigations by MONEYVAL

Azerbaijan has received recommendations from the Council of Europe‘s anti-money laundering body, MONEYVAL, to enhance its efforts in combating money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF), and proliferation finance. The latest evaluation report emphasized the need for Azerbaijan to intensify investigations and prosecutions of money laundering activities and improve supervisory arrangements within the country.

According to the report, Azerbaijan has made progress since 2014 in bolstering its legal and institutional framework to address AML/CFT issues, aligning with the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The country has started implementing measures for an effective AML/CTF system and demonstrated a good understanding of the risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing.

MONEYVAL highlighted Azerbaijan’s positive achievements in countering terrorist financing, with successful investigations leading to convictions in TF cases. The country’s international cooperation efforts were praised for their effectiveness and the capacity to seek and provide assistance constructively when needed.

The evaluation report emphasized that Azerbaijan’s main money laundering predicate offenses are linked to domestic corruption, tax-related crimes, smuggling, and drug trafficking. While the country has a fair understanding of ML/TF risks, further improvements are needed in preventive measures and supervision to strengthen the overall AML/CFT regime.

Overall, the recommendations from MONEYVAL urge Azerbaijan to prioritize enhancing its investigative and prosecutorial efforts in combating money laundering, as well as improving its supervisory mechanisms to ensure a more robust and efficient financial integrity system.