UN Office on Drugs and Crime builds capacity of Kazakhstan's law-enforcement agencies in preventing financing of terrorism

On 30 -31 March, UNODC has conducted a two-day round table meeting on strengthening potential of Kazakhstan's law-enforcement agencies in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The round table meeting brought together over 70 representatives of Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry, the Agency for Financial Monitoring, the Agency for Countering Corruption and the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office.

The meeting's goal was to enhance the effectiveness of interagency cooperation in accordance with the best international practices and strengthen the country's national AML/CFT capacity, including consideration of the current problems of detection and investigation of money laundering and terrorist financing as well as conducting financial investigations. This event is the logical continuation of the systemic work carried out by the Kazakh Agency for Financial Monitoring in the run-up to the on-site mission of international experts as part of the mutual evaluation of Kazakhstan by the Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG) for compliance with Financial Action Task (FATF) international standards.

John Dudley, the regional law enforcement advisor from the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Bureau of the US Department of State at the US Embassy in Kazakhstan, noted the importance of the round-table meeting in the run-up to the forthcoming mutual evaluation of Kazakhstan by the EAG for compliance with FATF international standards and recommendations.

"National competent authorities in Kazakhstan have a unique opportunity to prepare for the mutual evaluation with technical and expert support from UNODC," said John Dudley.

UNODC Advisor AML/CFT in the Central Asia Region, Aliaksandr Vadziany, spoke about the role of law enforcement agencies in the mutual evaluation process and the importance of AML/CFT risk assessment for law enforcement agencies.

"In the current environment, countries are paying increased attention to the effectiveness of their AML/CFT systems. The FATF compliance assessment looks not only at technical compliance but also at the effectiveness of the AML/CFT system. Law enforcement agencies play an important role in this area. Strengthening legal systems, policies and national strategies to combat financial crimes, money laundering and terrorist financing is a technical assistance priority for UNODC," Aliaksandr Vadziany told the meeting.

Oliver Gadney, the Programme Officer of the UNODC Global Programme against Money Laundering (GPML), drew attention to the importance of having professional training available in the country. He noted that training materials should be based on specific practical exercises that simulate money laundering and terrorist financing scenarios. In addition, Oliver Gadney shared international practices on the development and functioning of a professional development system based on training institutions.

The capacity building workshop was conducted under UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia’s Programme on Countering the Financing of Terrorism with the expert support of the UNODC GPML and is funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US Department of State.

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For further information, please contact:

 

Sultan Khudaibergenov

Communication and External Relations Officer

UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia

Email: sultan.khudaibergenov[at]un.org