Cyprus says it will adopt FBI guidance on tackling financial crime and sanctions evasion
Authorities in Cyprus have said they will adopt the recommendations of a security initiative developed with help from the US to fight money laundering, sanctions evasion and other financial crimes.
The announcement comes after a team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was seconded to the Mediterranean island nation for nine months.
The FBI team helped to train Cypriot police to identify and prosecute cases of illegal financing and attempts to evade US, EU and UN sanctions imposed on any third country.
The US team has also produced a detailed report outlining specific recommendations and proposals including additional staff training, upgrading high-tech systems and amending existing legislation, Cyprus government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
Cypriot police officers stand by a police van outside a courthouse complex in Paphos, 5 December, 2022
AP Photo
He said Cypriot law enforcement authorities are currently looking to put into use the recommendations to bolster their effectiveness.
The joint initiative was set up in 2023 under the Biden administration after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides invited FBI and Justice Department officials to assist with investigations into allegations that Cypriot financial service providers had helped Russian oligarchs skirt international sanctions.
Since then, the Trump administration has disbanded the Biden-era Task Force KleptoCapture, a programme which was aimed at seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs.
However, last week, Trump said he is "strongly considering" levying new sanctions and tariffs on Russia unless it stops its war against Ukraine.
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Christodoulides has pledged to clean up Cyprus' reputation as a money laundering and sanctions evasion hub.
As part of those efforts, Cypriot law enforcement agencies received training on financial investigative and forensic accounting techniques both locally and at the International Law Enforcement Academy in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, according to a Cyprus-US joint statement issued last year.
The UK said last December it would share information with the Cypriot Ministry of Finance "to disrupt and intercept the flow of illicit finance through Europe to ensure the effectiveness of sanctions on Putin's war machine".
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