ARMENIA SHOULD TIGHTEN MONEYLAUNDERING LAWS: RIGHTS REPORT

Agence France Presse
Jan 11 2010
France

Armenia should tighten its laws in the fight against money laundering
and the financing of terrorism, a Council of Europe rights report
said Monday.

Experts for the committee on the evaluation of anti-money laundering
measures and the financing of terrorism — known as Moneyval —
found that "although there are some convictions, it has not yet been
ascertained through a court judgment that money laundering can be
prosecuted as an autonomous offense."

Moneyval also regretted that legal persons were not subject to criminal
liability under Armenian law, though considered the country’s criminal
provisions for money laundering to be "basically sound".

The criminal provisions relating to terrorism financing are "broadly
in line with the international standards but further amendments
are necessary to cover the financing of individual terrorists and
terrorist organisations."

The committee also deplored that for some offences, "it is not always
possible to confiscate assets" and encouraged Armenia to develop its
supervision of businesses and non-financial professions.

The legal framework for mutual legal assistance and extradition "is
sound", the report said, and the provisions of mutual legal assistance
are "not subject to any unreasonable or unduly restrictive conditions"
in Armenia.