The Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2021) project against money laundering and terrorism financing in Azerbaijan continues to support the national authorities in their efforts to align the national legislation with international standards and best practices geared to anti-money laundering and combatting terrorist financing. Enhanced measures to ensure systematic identification of the ultimate beneficial owner of any property or assets are part of these requirements, and of the project’s objectives.
Following an initial consultation meeting on the Azerbaijani beneficial ownership framework in December 2020, the project developed a legal opinion with recommendations in this area. With a view to further discuss the findings and recommendations provided in the legal opinion on the beneficial ownership legislative framework, a second consultation meeting was organised with the representatives of the Financial Monitoring Service, the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank on 3 February 2021. An effective beneficial ownership (BO) structure and examples of successful solutions were presented to the national stakeholders, including a number of key elements to be considered when developing a national beneficial ownership disclosure framework.
Following the presentation, in-depth, article by article discussions were conducted to examine all the missing elements in the current draft amendments to relevant legislation and address challenging points raised by the national authorities. Definitions for specific terminology like trusts, legal arrangements and other concepts, creation of BO registry and collection of BO information, practical tools for BO identification and verification, necessary cross-checks, compliance and effectiveness were important points discussed during the active and productive exchanges through videoconference. Taking these discussions into account, the final legal opinion will reflect key aspects with the aim to enhance the government’s efforts in complying with ultimate beneficial ownership standards and measures, which are becoming increasingly important internationally, within the global fight against economic crime.
This activity is part of the project “Strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance (2019-2021).
