EAG to check members' anti-money laundering systems

The Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism (EAG) is to carry out inspections in its member states, the EAG executive secretary said.

The EAG will check the systems whereby its members - China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism and will finish its inspections before the end of 2008, Viktor Kochenov told.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe had asked to join the EAG as an observer and that the request would be considered at the Group's next meeting, due to be held in Moscow in December 2006, he said. The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the United States, France and Japan are among the states which currently hold observer status at the EAG.

The EAG, set up on October 6, 2004, on a Russian initiative, is a regional body similar to the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which is a global intergovernmental body. The initiative received support from FATF, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and some countries, including the United States and Ukraine. Kochenov said Kyrgyzstan would be the first and Kazakhstan the second to be inspected. The former will be checked in the fourth quarter of 2006, the latter in the second quarter of 2007.

Source: Interfax