Costa Rica is preparing with an inter-institutional action plan for the evaluation of its anti-money laundering system and against terrorist financing in 2020 in compliance with the International Standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF).
Also known by its French name, Groupe d’action financière (GAFI), the TAFT is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 to combat money laundering and apply sanctions on those countries that it identifies with strategic deficiencies in its systems to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD) coordinates the compliance and coordination process with the institutions linked under the modality of technical assistance with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in a process that will take approximately 8 months that begins on September 2.
In parallel, work will be carried out to address those deficiencies that the international organization has pointed out to the country in its Mutual Evaluation Report.
Under the coordination of the Financial Intelligence Unit and with the aide fo the Banco Central de Costa Rica (Central Bank) (BCCR), the National Financial System Supervision Council (CONASSIF) and the General Superintendence of Financial Entities (SUGEF) and the Ministerio Publico, particularly the Fiscalía Adjunta contra la Legitimación de Capitales, have achieved a series of mechanisms and actions to prevent these crimes, allowing the scarce resources to be focused more efficiently.
Guillermo Araya, Director of the ICD, indicated that to date they have achieved improvement in 18 FATF recommendations.
The government of Carlos Alvarado says that the work will include with a representative group of the private sector from financial institutions as well as casinos, lawyers, notaries, real estate agencies and other sectors.
