Today marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Department of Belarus. The relevant Decree was signed by the President of the Republic of Belarus on 14 September 2003.
The Financial Monitoring Department is an information, analytical, and expert centre for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.
The Department's analysts investigate suspicious financial transactions in all areas of the economy to detect tax crimes, illegal withdrawal of assets outside the country, corruption, financing of drug trafficking, illegal migration, extremism and terrorism. Over the last 5 years alone, law enforcement agencies have detected about 2,000 crimes using information from the Financial Intelligence Unit of Belarus.
A new recent challenge is the financing of criminal schemes through the cryptosphere. Transactions using cryptocurrency are under special control. The capabilities of the Financial Monitoring Department allow detecting suspicious transactions not only using bitcoin, but also other popular cryptocurrencies.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of Belarus has organised information exchange on suspicious financial transactions with more than 150 financial intelligence agencies of the world. The effective work is facilitated by the Department's active participation in the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) and the Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units of the CIS Member States.
Another important area of the Department's work is the coordination of the activities of all the bodies that make up the national anti-money laundering system. A clear algorithm of interaction between the Department of Financial Monitoring and law enforcement, supervisory authorities, and the private sector (banks, notaries, organisations in the field of digital signs, and other institutions) has been established here, and a system of obtaining information from private sector organisations in the event of suspicious financial transactions by clients has been set up.
The results of the national anti-money laundering system of Belarus have been assessed internationally more than once. The latest assessment was carried out in 2019. In almost all areas, our country received high ratings for compliance with international standards in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.