Financial Crime World

Here’s the article in markdown format:

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Measures in Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein has a well-developed AML/CFT framework, but there are areas that require improvement. This article summarizes the main points from a recent report on the country’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Money Laundering

Lack of Investigations and Prosecutions

  • Liechtenstein’s AML/CFT framework is well-developed, but there is a lack of investigations and prosecutions targeting sophisticated money laundering (ML) schemes.
  • The consistency between ML activity and national threats/risk profile is generally attained, except for tax crimes committed abroad.

Sanctions Imposed by Courts

  • Sanctions imposed by Liechtenstein courts are not proportionate and dissuasive.

Confiscation of Proceeds

Pursuit of Confiscation as a Policy Objective

  • Confiscation is pursued as a policy objective, with a comprehensive legal framework and strengthened capacities of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and prosecutors.
  • Competent authorities carry out financial investigations parallel to crime investigations, establishing strong inter-institutional cooperation.

Conviction- and Non-Conviction-Based Confiscation

  • Conviction- and non-conviction-based confiscation are frequently applied in practice.

Terrorist Financing

Lack of Prosecutions and Convictions

  • There have been no terrorist financing (TF) prosecutions/convictions in Liechtenstein so far.
  • The national TF risk assessment concluded that the risk of TF in Liechtenstein is medium.

Investigation and Proceedings

  • One TF investigation was carried out, but it didn’t result in further proceedings due to lack of evidence.
  • No conclusion can be made on proportionality and dissuasiveness of sanctions applied.

Other Key Points

Framework Treaty with Switzerland

  • Liechtenstein has a framework treaty with Switzerland for cross-border controls, which has revealed certain weaknesses in the system.

TF Strategy

  • The country has developed a TF Strategy aimed at preventing/suppressing TF.

Measures to Disrupt TF

  • Measures to disrupt TF are available to competent authorities, but none have been applied yet.