“The fight against money laundering is merciless and meaningless” — Tatyana Tereshchenko’s for New Prospect
Russian anti-money laundering legislation imposes numerous restrictions on bona fide business, whereas income hidden from taxation and earned through dishonest labor can be almost freely used. This is facilitated, among other things, by forced measures to liberalize currency control and foreign sanctions.
Back in 1989, the G7 countries established the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), and Russia joined it in 2003. The fight against attempts to legalize criminal proceeds has been delegated to Rosfinmonitoring, called financial intelligence.
All clogged with greenery, absolutely all
The sanctions imposed against Russia since the start of the CBO have forced lawmakers to ease oversight. More than a year ago, the controlled limit was increased from 600 thousand to 1 million rubles. In December, exporters were allowed to receive cash from foreign partners, use it for settlements without crediting to bank accounts and importing (repatriating) into the country. And since June of this year, Russian citizens and companies have also the right to receive a refund of loans previously issued to foreigners in cash in dollars, euros, yuan or other banknotes.
In addition, the unfriendly countries intend to abandon the international automatic exchange of financial information (CRS), which allowed domestic "publicans" to receive information from foreign colleagues on a mutual basis about accounts opened by Russians in foreign banks. Latvia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland have already made such decisions. Thus, it will be extremely difficult for law enforcement agencies and even intelligence to detect savings deposited in, say, a Zurich or Berlin bank.
There are no uniform standards for confirming the legality of overwork acquired.
Traditionally, evidence of the origin of funds are certificates, income declarations, bank statements, receipts, inheritance certificates and other documents. At the same time, it is possible to provide any explanations that would justify the legality and show the economic feasibility of the operation,
— explains Tatyana Tereshchenko, head of the analytical department of Prime Advice.
It will be difficult to refute many explanations about funds received several years ago, the exchange of a large amount of currency or other transactions: within the framework of currency control, banks must store materials, including electronic databases, for only 3 years. Anti-laundering legislation establishes a five-year period after which documents on transactions must be destroyed.