June 3, Minsk /Tatyana Pastushenko - BELTA/. Banks in Belarus will be able to suspend, refuse transactions, or terminate relationships with suspicious clients during financial operations. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Alexander Myakinik, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on Budget and Finance, commenting on the necessity of adopting the law "On Measures to Prevent the Legalization of Proceeds from Crime, Financing of Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction".
June 3, Minsk /Tatyana Pastushenko - BELTA/. Banks in Belarus will be able to suspend, refuse transactions, or terminate relationships with suspicious clients during financial operations. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Alexander Myakinik, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on Budget and Finance, commenting on the necessity of adopting the law "On Measures to Prevent the Legalization of Proceeds from Crime, Financing of Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction".
The bill as a whole is aimed at preserving the economic and national security of Belarus. The document brings Belarusian legislation into line with the standards of FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering), an intergovernmental organization to combat money laundering, and also implies the elimination of remarks and implementation of recommendations noted by the national AML/CFT system (system for countering the legalization of proceeds from crime and financing of terrorism).
Taking into account the requirements of FATF standards, the rights and obligations of persons carrying out financial operations are clarified, including those aimed at increasing the level of responsibility for the implementation of internal control rules. For banks, special powers are proposed to be established separately, contributing to the minimization of the risk of their involvement in the process of legalizing criminal proceeds, as well as ensuring the termination of relationships with suspicious clients.
In other words, the parliamentarian explained, the right to terminate relations with dubious clients will be granted to all banks (state-owned and private) and non-bank organizations that conduct financial transactions with both legal entities and individuals. Non-bank organizations include commodity exchanges, pawnshops, gold buying points, etc. Their operations will be supervised by the Ministry of Finance, the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, and other relevant ministries.
Banks will be able to suspend a transaction with a dubious client for two days, during which time the individual or legal entity will be checked. "If the transaction is legal, the financial operation will continue as normal," emphasized Aleksandr Myakinnik, noting that the document is not aimed at scrutinizing all financial operations without exception; only those that appear suspicious for any reason will be under control.
"That is, with this bill, we are protecting Belarusian banks from conducting dubious financial operations," the deputy explained.
Furthermore, FATF standards define the measures that countries must implement to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism, irrespective of the differences in their institutional, legal, administrative, financial, and other systems. Additionally, the FATF mandate in 2008 additionally addressed the issue of financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. "This led to the inclusion in the standards of the mandatory requirement for countries to apply targeted financial sanctions in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions relating to the prevention, disruption, and cessation of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing. In this regard, the scope of the bill has been extended to issues of countering the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," explained Aleksandr Myakinnik.
According to the parliamentarian, to effectively counter this global threat, the draft law provides for a mechanism to block financial operations related to the proliferation (or financing of proliferation) of such weapons. If suspension is not possible, refusal to conduct financial operations is envisaged. The operations themselves are classified as subject to special control and registration in a special form, with the competencies of persons conducting financial operations and the financial monitoring body being adjusted accordingly.
To implement FATF standards, the draft provides for a corresponding mechanism to block financial operations of persons involved in terrorist activities, members of a terrorist group or organisation, or those proliferating or financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, it envisages an obligation for persons conducting financial operations to refuse them the execution of such operations or the conclusion of an agreement for their execution. For example, this applies to opening an account.
The draft law "On Measures to Prevent the Legalisation of Income Obtained by Criminal Means, the Financing of Terrorist Activities and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction" will be considered by the deputies of the House of Representatives in the first and second readings at a session scheduled for June 5. -0-
News of Belarus (BELTA)