Informing on the results of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine work for the 1st half of 2020

21.07.2020 9:14

The SFMS as a financial intelligence unit of Ukraine, takes enhanced 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 half of 2020, the SFMS has prepared 468 referrals (of them 221 case referrals and 247 additional case referrals) which have been submitted to:

- the Prosecutor’s offices of Ukraine – 45 referrals (of them 8 case referrals and 37 additional case referrals);

- the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - 81 referrals (of them 17 case referrals and 64 additional case referrals);

- the Security Service of Ukraine - 121 referrals (of them 50 case referrals and 71 additional case referrals);

- the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine – 125 referrals (of them 77 case referrals and 48 additional case referrals);

- the National Police of Ukraine - 85 referrals (of them 67 case referrals and 18 additional case referrals);

- the State Bureau of Investigations 10 referrals (of them 1 case referral and 9 additional case referrals);

- the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine 1 case referral.

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 44,8 billion.

The SFMS pays special attention to investigation of money laundering facts of corrupt acts, embezzlement and appropriation of state funds and property.

Thus, for the 1st half of 2020, the SFMS has submitted 97 such referrals (19 case referrals and 78 additional case referrals) to law enforcement authorities, in particular to:

- the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - 81 referrals (of them 17 case referrals and 78 additional case referrals);

- the Prosecutor's offices of Ukraine – 4 additional case referrals;

- the Security Service of Ukraine – 9 referrals (of them 1 case referral and 8 additional case referrals);

- the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine – 1 additional case referral;

- the National Police of Ukraine – 1 case referral;

- the State Bureau of Investigations 1 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 2,7 billion.

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 half of 2020, the SFMS has submitted to law enforcement agencies 26 referrals (of them 11 case referrals and 15 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:

- 10 referrals (of them 1 case referral and 9 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 the 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);

- 7 referrals (of them 6 case referrals and 1 additional case referral) 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;

- 8 referrals (of them 3 case referrals and 5 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 26 submitted referrals, 6 referrals contained information on identified relationships with the Russian Federation.

Mentioned referrals were sent to the Security Service of Ukraine.

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, and sent generalized information to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Within the framework of the SFMS coordination activity 9^th meeting of the AML/CFT Council was held on 30.06.2020 in the SFMS premises. Representatives of all main stakeholders took part in the meeting. In particular, draft of the 2^nd follow up report of Ukraine following the results of the 5^th round of evaluation by MONEVAL and the results of the typological study for 2019 conducted by the SFMS were discussed at the meeting.

In April Head of the SFMS Igor Cherkaskyi presented to the public the report on the results of the SFMS activities for 2019.

Also, the SFMS published the survey on the Use of Non-Profit Organizations for Illegal Purposes.

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.

According to the results of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine monitoring of the information content of official websites of state authorities conducted in the 1^st half of 2020, the new official SFMS website is recognized as the best among the central executive authorities.

3^rd meeting of the Public Council under the SFMS was held in 24.06.2020. Representatives of the SFMS informed members of the Public Council on the implementation of the state policy in 2019 in the AML/CFT sphere and the recent developments in the legislation to be adopted to be in line with the new AML/CFT Law.

Within the framework of legislative initiatives, in order to implement the new legal provisions of the amended 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”, 34 drafts of legal acts have been developed by the SFMS during the 1st half of 2020 which are being accompanied.

Moreover, the SFMS in conjunction with the supervisory authorities have prepared recommendation for the reporting entities (banking and non-banking institutions) on submitting information regarding financial transactions to the SFMS from 28.04.2020 (before new bylaws come into force).

Within the framework of methodological work, the representatives of the SFMS participated in 31 educational events, which involved about 2762 persons during the 1st half of 2020.

In order to provide educational services in the financial monitoring sphere and taking into account situation with COVID-19 and quarantine regime digital-platform on distance learning has been launched by the Academy on Financial Monitoring.

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 5^th Round of mutual evaluation procedure;

- in virtual working meetings of the MONEYVAL within the framework of the 2^nd Intersessional Consultation (22.05-10.07.2020).

Additionally, the SFMS has sent to the MONEYVAL updated information to the 2^nd follow-up report of Ukraine within the framework of the 5^th Round of mutual evaluation procedure. The report had been considered as part of the 2^nd Intersessional Consultation procedure before it was adopted.

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