Informing on the results of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine work for the 1st quarter of 2020
The SFMS as a financial intelligence unit of Ukraine, given the exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, takes enhanced practical measures aimed at counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of the proceeds from crime, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapon of mass destruction. In particular, for the 1st quarter of 2020, the SFMS has prepared 239 referrals (of them 95 case referrals and 144 additional case referrals) which have been submitted to:
- the Prosecutor’s offices of Ukraine – 34 referrals (of them 5 case referrals and 24 additional case referrals);
- the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - 39 referrals (of them 3 case referrals and 36 additional case referrals);
- the Security Service of Ukraine - 41 referrals (of them 11 case referrals and 30 additional case referrals);
- the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine – 75 referrals (of them 43 case referrals and 32 additional case referrals);
- the National Police of Ukraine - 44 referrals (of them 33 case referrals and 11 additional case referrals);
- the State Bureau of Investigations 6 additional case referrals.
In these referrals, the amount of financial transactions that may be related to the legalization of funds and the commission of another criminal offence, defined by the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is UAH 14,8 billion.
The SFMS pays particular attention to the investigation of money laundering facts of corrupt acts, embezzlement and appropriation of state funds and property.
Thus, for the 1st quarter of 2020, the SFMS has submitted 47 such referrals (4 case referrals and 43 additional case referrals) to law enforcement authorities, in particular to:
- the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - 39 referrals (of them 3 case referrals and 36 additional case referrals);
- the Prosecutor's offices of Ukraine – 2 additional case referrals;
- the Security Service of Ukraine – 4 additional case referrals;
- the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine – 1 additional case referral;
- the National Police of Ukraine – 1 additional case referral.
In these referrals, the amount of suspicious financial transactions that may be related to the legalization (laundering) of funds or the commission of another criminal offense is UAH 161,4 million.
According to the legislation of Ukraine, the SFMS together with law enforcement agencies takes measures aimed at preventing and countering the financing of terrorist activities and separatism.
Thus, for the 1st quarter of 2020, the SFMS has submitted to law enforcement agencies 18 referrals (of them 7 case referrals and 11 additional case referrals) regarding financial transactions of persons which, according to information from law enforcement authorities, may be involved in the financing of terrorism (separatism) and/or conducted with the participation of persons, who publicly call for violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or change of boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine, including:
- 8 referrals (1 additional case referral and 7 additional case referrals) related to the implementation of financial transactions by individuals, whose identification data coincide with the identification data of the persons included in the List of Persons, related to the commission of terrorist activities or on which person’s international sanctions have been applied;
- 1 referral related to the implementation of financial transactions by persons included in annex 1 to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated June 21, 2018 (enacted by Decree of the President of Ukraine dated June 21, 2018, No. 176/2018);
- 4 referrals (1 additional case referral and 3 additional case referrals) related to suspicions in the conduct of financial transactions by persons involved in the activities of the international terrorist group "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant" or other extremist groups;
- 5 referrals (of them 2 case referrals and 3 additional case referrals) that may be associated with suspicion of financing illicit armed groups in the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Of the 106 submitted referrals, 32 referrals contained information on identified relationships with the Russian Federation.
Referrals were sent to the Security Service of Ukraine.
In the 1st quarter of 2020, the SFMS prepared the survey on the Use of non-profit organizations for illegal purposes.
In order to increase the effectiveness of interagency cooperation, during the reporting period, the SFMS was coordinating measures for the implementation by the relevant state authorities of the Action Plan to improve the national financial monitoring system based on the MONEYVAL 5th round of mutual evaluation of Ukraine (hereinafter - the Action Plan). Thus, the SFMS has ensured a generalization of information provided by state and law enforcement authorities on the progress of the implementation of the Action Plan in 2018, and in January of this year, sent generalized information to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Also, in order to increase informing the public, the new SFMS web-portal began to operate at the address: https://fiu.gov.ua. The new website has a modern design and more user-friendly interface on Ukrainian and English and provides accessibility for visually impaired users.
Within the framework of legislative initiatives, 32 drafts of legal acts have been developed by the SFMS in order to implement the new legal provisions of the updated Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Counteraction of Legalization (Laundering) of the Proceeds from Crime, Terrorist Financing and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” during the 1st quarter of 2020.
Within the framework of methodological work, the representatives of the SFMS participated in 22 educational events, which involved about 670 persons during the 1st quarter of 2020.
The SFMS international cooperation direction has been implemented by participation, in particular:
- in the meetings of the Information Exchange Working Group of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units;
- in the working meeting with an EU-ACT representative to discuss the developments of the Guidance on conducting financial investigations, and the FIU's staff training plan;
- in the face to face MONEYVAL assessors meeting to discuss the draft report of the Slovak Republic within the framework of the 5th Round of mutual evaluation procedure.
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