US Secret Service Helps Estonia fight Cybercrime

The U.S. Secret Service has opened a small cybercrime office in Estonia, a country exposed to several hacker attacks in recent years, including in 2007 when dozens of government and corporate web sites were disabled.

The staff of four will have no judicial powers but will offer training and advice to help Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian law enforcement fight cybercrime and other crimes, including money laundering and identity theft.

In Friday's opening ceremony, Estonian Justice Minister Kristen Michal said the small Baltic country is pleased to host the office as cybercrime is a high priority for the government.

Tracing its history back to 1865, the Secret Service is one of the oldest federal investigative law enforcement agencies in the United States.

Source: SacBee

Estonia progress report adopted by Moneyval Committee at Romania’s proposal

The progress report on Estonia was unanimously adopted on Romania’s proposal by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti- Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), the Romanian Ministry of Justice and Civic Freedoms announced on its Web site.


It added that the 31st plenary meeting of Moneyval Committee was held in Strasbourg, France on Dec. 7-11, with Romania being a rapporteur country.

The Romanian delegation was made up of Justice Ministry experts and experts of the National Office for the Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering (NOPCML).

The meeting also elected the Moneyval Office president and vice president, with NOPCML official Alexandru Codescu being elected an Office member.

Moneyval Committee was set up in 1997 as part of the Council of Europe, with its goal being to make sure that the states have efficient systems of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism in line with the international standards. Moneyval has 28 standing members, Romanian included, two temporary members and two observers.

Source: Financiarul

Estonia mulls money-laundering law

Oct 18, 2007
From wire reports

TALLINN - The Estonian government discussed a bill Oct. 18 designed to prevent money laundering and terrorism and approved it for presentation to parliament.

The aim of the draft legislation is to create a system of measures to prevent terrorist activities with a view to protecting the reliability of the country's financial sector and whole economic space.

The Finance Ministry said the law will expand the circle of persons who in their economic, professional and official activity are obliged to observe the requirements of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act.

This category includes all banks and providers of financial services, gaming operators, real estate brokers, pawnbrokers, auditors and providers of book-keeping and consulting services.

The obligation expands to all traders in cases of receiving a cash payment of more than 200,000 kroons (EUR 12,780) or the equivalent in some other currency, and in certain cases also to notaries public, lawyers, bailiffs, bankruptcy trustees and providers of other legal services.

The bill provides more detailed regulations for the identification of customers than the present law.

"This means, for instance, that providers of express SMS loans will in the future have to identify the borrower on the basis of a document," Finance Minister Ivari Padar explained. "The possibility of somone being cheated out of their money by an SMS loan will thereby disappear."

A new requirement is that obligated persons except for credit institutions will have to alert the money-laundering information bureau of each transaction involving a cash payment exceeding 500,000 kroons. The obligation applies to credit institutions only in case they operate in essence as money changers.

A significant change concerns the obligation of registration in the register of economic activities. The bill prescribes that all providers of financial services not subject to monitoring by the Financial Supervision Authority must be entered in the register. This includes providers of express loans.

All member states of the European Union are supposed to introduce similar requirements into their national legislation by Dec. 15.

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19091/

UAE to join hands with 82 nations to fight dirty funds

The UAE said yesterday it will sign new anti-money laundering agreements with 82 countries as part of an intensified strategy to combat dirty funds.

The National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC) discussed the plans at a meeting that also covered recent cases of currency fraud and other issues.

The Central Bank, which organised the meeting in Dubai, said the committee heard that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had so far been signed between the anti-money laundering unit and 21 countries.

They were told that the unit planned to sign MoUs with 82 other nations that were members of the Egmont Group, an international gathering of financial intelligence units.

Some of the countries covered by the agreements have large communities in the UAE and financial sources say the agreements will strengthen the drive to crack down on dirty money and ensure the banking system here remains clean.

"These agreements demonstrate the commitment of the UAE to share financial information with its global partners to co-ordinate the efforts against money laundering, terrorist financing and related crimes," a Central Bank spokesman said after some of the deals were signed earlier this year.

"These agreements were aimed at further supporting the UAE's continued co-operation with the international community on subjects of mutual concern and on ways to strengthen co-operation on combating money laundering."

MoUs were signed with the financial intelligence units of Lebanon, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, Isle of Man, Macedonia, Malawi, Monaco, Nigeria, Portugal, the Philippines, Serbia, South Africa and other countries.

The agreements followed a pledge by the UAE last year to push ahead with an extensive campaign against money laundering and terrorist funding through intensified regional and international co-operation.

Source: Emirates Business 24/7