ML/TF/PWMD crimes, although this is often not the
case due to a lack of direct access to financial
information databases and the need to go through
bureaucratic procedures to generate requests. Thus,
the statistics reviewed by the FATF show a 100%
success rate of investigations based on requested
materials, while the number of proactively submitted
materials has not resulted in a comparably high
number of investigations and has not contributed to
successful criminal investigations conducted by law
enforcement agencies – a similar situation is observed
in Russia.
Analysis of materials regarding Italy show that
law enforcement authorities in the country receive all
suspicious transaction reports, technical reports
(analysis materials used only as financial intelligence
information, but not as evidence and proof) and other
information indicating the risk level and carry out
preliminary investigations to confirm or refute the
conclusions drawn by the financial intelligence unit.
FATF stresses that due to the restriction on the use of
technical reports and the provision of information on
"clean" transactions, law enforcement agencies are
forced to repeat the examination of submitted data, a
situation very similar to that in Russia, where
Rosfinmonitoring submits information to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs with a note "not to be
included in the criminal case file".
The technical reports (analysis material) and
STRs provided by the financial intelligence unit can
only be used as financial intelligence information (i.e.
they cannot be used as evidence or proof). Unlike
most foreign financial intelligence units, the Italian
FIU is obliged to provide to the relevant authorities
(i.e. the Guardia di Finanza and the Antimafia
Investigative Directorate) the STRs which it
considers as unconfirmed and for which the
verification has been discontinued (i.e. "closed"
STRs). "Preliminary investigation", conducted by
Guardia di Finanza and the Antimafia Investigative
Directorate, includes verification of information
provided by the FIU in databases of law enforcement
bodies. "Preliminary investigation" of "closed" STRs
is not carried out in all cases, however, such STRs are
still provided to the Guardia di Finanza and the
Antimafia Investigative Directorate in case they are
required in specific circumstances.
Spanish law enforcement agencies, on the other
hand, have direct access to a wide range of financial
and other data, similarly to the USA [18]: the state
register of land (cadastre), companies, real estate; the
register of life insurance policies of the Ministry of
Justice; the unified computerized directory of notaries
(containing accurate legal and beneficial ownership
information and to which law enforcement agencies
have real-time access); the social security registry
(TGSS); the database of the Bank of Spain on
payment balances; the database on holders of
financial assets.
Thus, a cross-section of different international
practices has shown that the most effective measure
of interactions is the following system:
1) FIU performs accumulation and analysis of
financial information;
2) A single database is created, containing not
only FIU information, but also tax, customs,
banking and other information from various
public and private registers.
3) Interaction between authorities is based not
only on requests, but also on the provision of
effective proactive investigations by the FIU,
which can be the basis for preliminary
investigations, but also on the provision of real-
time access to the database.
So, by comparing the analysis data obtained as a
result of researching the mechanism of interaction
within the domestic AML/CFT system and
international experience, it becomes possible to
compare strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and
threats to the development of the current level of
interaction of federal executive bodies in detecting
and combating money laundering.
Table 4 presents such a comparison in the form of
a SWOT analysis, based on both the reviewed
academic literature and professional materials, as
well as a survey by Rosfinmonitoring experts in the
field.
Table 4: SWOT-analysis of the interaction of federal executive bodies in Russian AML/CFT system
Strengths Weaknesses
1. To date, a functioning system of inter-agency cooperation and interaction has
been established, implemented through the Inter-agency Commission on Combating
Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and the Financing of Proliferation of
Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Inter-agency Working Group on Combating
Illicit Financial Transactions, the Inter-agency Commission on Countering
Extremism, the Inter-agency Commission on Countering the Financing of
Terrorism, State Anti-Drug Committee, National Anti-Terrorism Committee, as
well as cooperation agreements with 27 organizations and government agencies.
1. The interaction involves constantly fine-tuned
forms of real time communication. The system
prioritizes the exchange of information through
request-response cooperation.
2. Although the reporting entities and the
responsible authorities have sufficient human
resources, law enforcement agencies do not have
the expert knowledge in the field of crimes related
to complex ML/TF/PWMD schemes.