FIU freezes EUR 104.8 million in the first half of 2019

According to the Fifth round Mutual Evaluation Report on Latvia published by Moneyval on 23 August 2018, the government has made the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing a top priority for the country, thus demonstrating strong political commitment.

Substantial changes were made in the legislation by amending the following laws and regulations:

• Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing;
• Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia;
• Criminal Law;
• Law on Declaration of Cash at the State Border;
• Law on Credit Institutions;
• Law on the Financial and Capital Market Commission.

Implementation of recommendations of the Moneyval report has increased the capacity of all supervisory and control authorities, thus allowing for significant improvements in anti-money laundering results, including targeted actions to improve compliance, such as performance of comprehensive thematic reviews, setting up working groups to resolve complex cases, as well as raising awareness and knowledge of the subjects of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Law (NILLTPFN).

By the end of this year, FIU plans to freeze EUR 200 million in possible proceeds of crime. At the end of this year, regulatory changes will be introduced to replace unusual transaction reports with threshold declarations. Such an approach will reduce uncertainty about the differences between the two types of reports and how to deal with situations where a transaction meets the criteria for both suspicious and unusual transactions.

On August 30 this year, Latvia submitted a Progress Report on the Technical Compliance Section to Moneyval, which detailed the joint efforts of the Latvian government, supervisory and control authorities, and the FIU and law enforcement agencies in combating money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing. By 15 November 2019, Latvia is required to submit a report to the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) on the effectiveness of its system for preventing money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.