Anti-Money Laundering Policy

Ukraine needs extra lines of defense to ensure that public money is used effectively during the war and to secure the integrity of reconstruction funding after the war, according to a conference at Press Club Brussels Europe last week. The first line of defense is the institutional framework of anti-corruption and audit agencies. The other line of defense is civil society and investigative journalism which is active in the middle of the on-going war. This was the main conclusion of a conference (14 March) organized by the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS) at RUSI Europe.

Roldugin is not alone in his alleged role as one of 'Putin's wallets'," said Tom Keatinge, head of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute. "Those banks and law firms providing services to other close connections of Vladimir Putin should be on notice that the authorities are clearly energised to make their case in court."

Beyond adding ever more products, entities and people on the list of sanctions, Europe should also work on implementation and enforcement. To make sanctions work in practice, Europe must urgently start to dismantle financial secrecy that currently allows corrupt officials and businesspeople to circumvent sanctions and hide ill-gotten gains."