RIGA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian government on Tuesday adopted a plan to combat money laundering and terrorist financing after its performance received a critical assessment of the Council of Europe's anti-money laundering experts.
The plan aims to increase supervision of banks and other financial service companies, implement preventive measures and unify anti-money laundering guidelines.
According to the plan, exchange of information between supervising and investigating authorities will be improved, and their human resources will be increased as well as new information technology solutions will be implemented.
Moneyval, the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, presented a very critical report on Latvia last month.
According to the Moneyval report, both Latvian policymakers and entrepreneurs have insufficient understanding of money laundering and terrorist financing risks, and the Baltic countries' law enforcement authorities have not been doing enough to crack down on these crimes.
For that reason, Moneyval has put Latvia in an enhanced follow-up process.
