Paraguay’s progress in fight against money laundering and transnational crimes highlighted

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Vice-minister of Finance Oscar Orué highlighted Paraguay’s progress in the fight against money laundering, transnational crimes and tax evasion in a meeting with other officials and the GALIFAT assessment team.

The Interinstitutional Committee of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing System (ALA/CFT) met yesterday with the Assessment Team of the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT), at the Central Bank of Paraguay’s Institute.

During the meeting Orué highlighted the progress made in the fight against money laundering crimes, the international agreements signed, and the approval of the lifting of banking and professional secrecy as part of its efforts.

He also mentioned that to this end technology is currently being used to exchange information with a number of institutions such as the Prosecutor’s Office and the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money and Asset Laundering (SEPRELAD).

The meeting was held in order to highlight the coordinated and joint efforts undertaken to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism to which the country is exposed. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Finance Oscar Llamosas, Chief of Staff Hernán Huttemann, as national coordinator, and the Minister of SEPRELAD Carlos Arregui, as executive coordinator.

Other participants included Ministers of the Executive and Judicial branches, as well as officials from other institutions involved in the process and technical representatives.

The assessment of Paraguay formally began in November 2019, when the coordinating team led by the Pro Tempore President of GAFILAT at the time, Sergio Espinosa, held a number of formal interviews with the President Mario Abdo Benítez, Cabinet members and also with other institutions, to show the coordinated efforts that Paraguay has been undertaking.

Over the past 2 weeks, the assessment team conducted interviews with officials and technicians from the public and private sectors (members of the AML/CFT System), to ensure that there are no discrepancies in the data supplied by the country in questionnaires sent first in January 2020 and later with other updates.

GAFILAT comprises 17 countries in South America, Central America, North America and the Caribbean to prevent and fight money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction through a commitment to continuously improve national policies to prevent and combat these issues, as well as deepening the different cooperation mechanisms among its member countries.