Kyrgyzstan removed from FATF non-co-operative countries list, with OSCE assistance

Kyrgyzstan has been removed from the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and will no longer be subject to the FATF’s monitoring process under its ongoing global process of compliance with requirements on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).   This was announced at the third FATF Plenary meeting held from 25 to 27 June 2014 in Paris. The OSCE Centre in Bishkek contributed to this through providing technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan.  

Tthe FATF congratulated Kyrgyzstan for the significant progress made in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified in their mutual evaluation reports and the action plans agreed with the FATF. From now on, Kyrgyzstan will work with respective FATF-style regional bodies to address these issues.

“Being taken off the FATF ‘grey list’ is a significant achievement of the Government and Financial Intelligence Service of Kyrgyzstan, and we are proud to be part of this success,” said Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek. “The OSCE Centre in Bishkek will continue to assist the Kyrgyz Government in implementing the FATF’s recommendations to strengthen integrity of its financial system”.

The OSCE has been assisting Kyrgyzstan in increasing the capacity of the country’s financial bodies to adopt modern investigative and countering methods, and implement legislation that addresses the recommendations of the FATF.  In March 2013, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek opened a new Training Centre of the State Financial Intelligence Service, and held several training courses for officers from the Service. All in all, more than 400 officers from various ministries and agencies were trained on modern methods of AML.