MONEYVAL's 58th Plenary Meeting

The Russian inter-agency delegation, led by Rosfinmonitoring Deputy Director V I. Glotov and comprising representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry, took part in the 58th Plenary meeting of the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), held from 15 to 19 July 2019.

The meeting began with opening remarks by Jan Kleijssen, head of the Directorate of Information Society and Action against Crime, and Gianluca Esposito, director of the Action against Crime Department, underscoring the quality and consistency of MONEYVAL's efforts and their importance for the organization as a whole. 

Mr Kleijssen also briefed the participants on the resolution of the situation around Russia's suspended membership in PACE, primarily in the context of the resumed membership fee payments to the CE budget, which in turn will allow the CE to forgo the extraordinarily cost and staff optimization measures.

The Russian delegation continued to promote the Russian position on the importance of enhanced cooperation within MONEYVAL in cutting off funding for terrorists, particularly for ISIL, Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, highlighting the efforts undertaken by the country in this area. 

In a snap election triggered by Daniel Thelesklaf's move from the position of chair of Liechtenstein's FIU to a similar position at Switzerland's FIU (not a member of MONEYVAL), the Plenary elected Ms Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz (Poland) as new chair and Mr Richard Walker (Guernsey) as new vice-chair for the remainder of the term.

Discussions of the new round mutual evaluation reports of Malta and Moldova were traditionally focused on the practical aspects of the efforts to improve the effectiveness of the countries' measures to mitigate the ML/TF/PF risks identified in their AML/CFT systems. 

During the Plenary week, participants reviewed the follow-up reports of the Isle of Man, Romania, Ukraine and Croatia, as well as accepting applications from Estonia and Montenegro for removal from the regular follow-up process. 

Separately, driven by the necessity to outline its goals and set priorities that take into account the specifics of this FATF-style regional body, the Plenary discussed the development by the MONEYVAL of its own strategy. Following the discussion, participated decided to set up a high-level working group tasked with developing this strategy.

Members of the Russian delegation held bilateral negotiations during the Plenary week with their counterparts from the FIUs of Malta, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia and Estonia.

The next MONEYVAL Plenary meeting is scheduled to be held in Strasbourg in December 2019.

Rosfinmonitoring