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Thursday, 21.09.2023, 19:59
Estonian govt committee to submit proposals for improving fight against money laundering
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According to Prime Minister Juri Ratas, there has to be zero
tolerance for money laundering in Estonia. "In recent years the rules
against money laundering and terrorist financing have become stricter. Today's
regulation differs greatly from the time when large-scale suspicious
transactions were carried out. It is important that cooperation between the
state and financial institutions continues," he said.
According to Finance Minister Toomas Toniste, Estonia's public
institutions have taken big steps to reduce risks and to help the banking
sector be trusted. "For instance, in the case of Danske Bank's money
laundering suspicions, the 2014 and 2015 activities of the Financial
Supervision Authority played an important role in the bank being forced to end
the risky non-residents' business. At the same time the necessary information
was forwarded to the Danish supervision authority," he said.
According to a decision by the Cabinet, the government committee for
combating money laundering and terrorist financing is to draw up additional
proposals to combat money laundering and increase the accountability of
financial institutions.
Head of the board of the Financial Supervision Authority, Kilvar Kessler,
head of the Police and Border Guard's financial intelligence unit, Madis
Reimand, and Prosecutor General Lavly Perling provided an overview
to the Cabinet of the fight against money laundering and proposals.
As a result of the work done by the Financial Supervision Authority, in
the past five years the share of risky non-residents in the financial system
has fallen. According to the financial intelligence unit, the number of
suspicious transactions has also considerably declined by now.
The Public Prosecutor's Office has launched a criminal proceeding to
investigate possible money laundering suspicions in the Estonian branch of
Danske Bank until 2015. The Estonian Financial Supervision Authority handed a
precept to the bank in connection with insufficient risk control already in
2007.
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