OSCE Centre in Astana holds anti-money laundering seminar

ASTANA, 22 November 2012 – The OSCE Centre in Astana supported a distance learning seminar on countering money laundering held today in Astana. Participants representing all of the General Prosecutor’s regional offices took part in the seminar via video link.

The event was co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana, the US Embassy in Kazakhstan and the Institute of the General Prosecutor’s Office for employees of central and regional prosecutors’ offices throughout the country.

Domestic and international experts shared their experience with more than 150 officials from Kazakhstan’s regions on countering money laundering, criminal procedures, and the role of prosecutor offices  in preventing crimes in the banking sector.

“A unified approach involving  prosecutors, along with legislators, national financial intelligence units, banks, financial police, courts and society in general against the legalization of unlawfully obtained assets is a prerequisite for good governance and a fair and sound economic future for the country,” said Alexander Peytchev, Economic Environmental Officer of the OSCE Centre in Astana.

“Narcotics dealers use all possible loopholes to legalize their unlawfully acquired assets, which are widely used to finance terrorist and extremist organizations,” said Shakir Shayahmetov, the Deputy Head of the Institution of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The seminar is part of the OSCE Centre in Astana’s efforts to provide assistance to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, as well as strengthen the country’s anti-corruption institutional and legal framework by providing expertise and helping to introduce good practices.