The President signed a law on the lifetime status of politically exposed persons (PEP) and the strengthening of their financial monitoring at the end of October, but it is still actively being discussed. The saga with military PIT ended in November when the law came into effect. We will also take a look at what the Cabinet is doing to meet all the requirements of the European Commission.
How will the financial monitoring of public figures be strengthened?
Back in 2019, the Parliament passed a law to strengthen the financial monitoring of politically exposed persons. The list now includes the President, government officials and their deputies, MPs, ambassadors, and heads of law enforcement agencies, national regulators, the Armed Forces, and the largest state-owned companies.
In 2022, to protect the financial system of Ukraine from Russia and adapt domestic legislation to the standards on combating money laundering and the requirements of the EU Directive, the Cabinet proposed to change the financial monitoring of PEPs (politically exposed persons). In particular, the term during which a person was recognized as a PEP was limited to three years. However, this limited term of financial monitoring raised a lot of questions from international partners who demanded the return of lifelong financial monitoring of politically exposed persons.
At the end of October, the President signed the law passed by Parliament on lifetime financial monitoring of public figures. It was an important step in meeting the requirements of the IMF and Ukraine’s quest for EU membership.
The adopted law introduced the distribution of control functions between banks, financial, auditing, and other institutions to effectively prevent possible crimes.
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