Kyrgyzstan
Since September 2005, the Kyrgyz Republic has had an administrative-type financial intelligence unit – the State Financial Intelligence Service directly subordinated to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. The national AML/CFT law came into force on November 8, 2006.
The Kyrgyz Republic is the first EAG member state to have undergone the mutual evaluation. At the 9th EAG Plenary which was held in Moscow in December 2008 the follow up report of the Kyrgyz Republic was adopted and the country was put under regular follow up.
Financial Intelligence Unit – State Financial Intelligence Service of the Kyrgyz Republic
Overview
The FIU of the Kyrgyz Republic was established by the Presidential Order No.352 (September 8, 2005) “On the competent authority to combat terrorist financing and money laundering – the Financial Intelligence Service of the Kyrgyz Republic”.
In another Presidential Decree by December 29, 2005 the FIU terms of reference are stated.
The Kyrgyz State Financial Intelligence Service is an administrative-type FIU which is not a part of the law enforcement or judicial infrastructure. At the same time, the FIU fulfils the same tasks and goals as all the other world FIUs. Its core objective is ensuring integrity and stability of the Kyrgyz financial system and combating terrorist financing.
The primary objective of the Kyrgyz State Financial Intelligence Service is combating money laundering and terrorist financing, protecting the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, society and the state, as well as ensuring the integrity and stability of the Kyrgyz financial system.
Since its creation, the Kyrgyz FIU has undergone all necessary stages of development of a state body, including elaboration of the corresponding legal framework. The FIU experts developed a draft AML/CFT law which was adopted by the Kyrgyz Parliament in June 2006 and came into force on November 8, 2006. Since then, the FIU has been gathering data on banking transactions surpassing the limit amounts which was stipulated by the AML/CFT law.
In order to improve the legal framework and bring it into compliance with the AML/CFT law, the FIU developed a number of bylaws.
A number of other bylaws were proposed by the Kyrgyz FIU in order to bring the national AML/CFT system into compliance with the FATF recommendations and other international standards.
The Financial Intelligence Service reports to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. It is independent in its activities.
Goals and tasks
The primary objective of the Kyrgyz State Financial Intelligence Service is combating money laundering and terrorist financing, protecting the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, society and the state, as well as ensuring the integrity and stability of the Kyrgyz financial system.
Article 5 of the AML/CFT Law envisages a number of functions for the Financial Intelligence Service:
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Gather and analyze information relating to deals and transactions subject to mandatory reporting.
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Develop and implement measures to improve the system of preventing, detecting and deterring suspicious deals and transactions as well as deals and transactions associated with money laundering and terrorist financing, which includes providing AML/CFT clarifications as regards identifying and reporting suspicious transactions.
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Present to the court (judge), prosecutor, or investigation and interrogation bodies, materials and documents relating to ML/FT in response to official inquiries in connection with proceedings launched under Kyrgyz legislation. The competent agency may volunteer such information to law enforcement agencies and courts on its own initiative.
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Carry out its own activities to prevent and deter money laundering and terrorist financing.
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Duly access (use) databases (registers) that are formed and/or maintained by state agencies.
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Send a report to law enforcement authorities if there is sufficient reason to believe that a transaction is associated with ML/FT.
Under Clause 9 of Chapter V of the Provision “On the Financial Intelligence Service” (Presidential Order No.655 dated 2005), the Financial Intelligence Service may “duly request and obtain information on transactions with cash or other assets from state agencies, local government bodies, the National Bank, and other organizations engaged in such transactions”.
Organization structure
The Kyrgyz Financial Intelligence Service is headed by the Chairman who is appointed and dismissed by order of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The current Chairman is Mr. Maksatbek Sadyrov. The Service Chairman has two deputies, including a first deputy. The deputy and first deputy chairmen of the Service are appointed and dismissed by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic as advised by the Service Chairman.
Interagency and international cooperation
According to the AML/CFT law and its terms of reference, the FIU has signed a number of agreements on interagency cooperation and information exchange with the Kyrgyz National Bank, Agency for combating drug trafficking, Financial police and other agencies.
The FIU cooperates with its international partners and has agreements and MOUs with various foreign FIUs.
The improvement of the national legal framework allowed the Kyrgyz FIU join the Egmont Group in May 2009 which is a very important stage in the development of the FIU’s activities.
Annual reports and other publications
In September 2007 the Kyrgyz State Financial Intelligence Service published the first digest of methodological recommendations on the national AML/CFT system. It contains legal framework for combating financial crimes, commentaries of experts and guidelines in AML/CFT. It also covers various ML/TF typologies identified by the FATF and the EAG.
In 2009 the FIU published its first Annual report which covers the its activities since creation till 2008.