News

The event was held in the government of the Penza region on Thursday, 28 June 2018.

 The conference was attended by Natalya Kantserova, Prosecutor of the Penza region, Sergey Sizov, Head of the RF Federal Security Service Directorate for the Penza region, Sergey Shchetkin, Head of the

Directorate of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Penza region, heads and employees of prosecution agencies, police, as well as representatives of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring and the investigation agency, judges, scientists from the regions of the Volga Federal District.
In his welcoming speech, the governor highlighted the need to intensify counteraction measures against money laundering due to the increased risks in this area.

 "Every year, criminals become more sophisticated and invent new ways of illicit enrichment. These crimes are difficult to identify, difficult to prove. These are additional challenges for law enforcement agencies,” he noted.

 The head of the region mentioned such law violations as money laundering, fly-by-night companies, tax crimes, including those related to VAT theft, drug trafficking and various kinds of corruption.

 “While the overall situation in the region is consistently positive, we cannot relent and we must do our best to minimise this problem in the Penza region,” Ivan Belozertsev pointed out.

 The prosecutor of the Penza region stressed that this type of crimes tend to be covert.

 “Money laundering is a threat to any state. It destroys business environment, destroys credibility of state, and affects its image. But above all, it undermines citizens’ trust in the authorities,” Natalya Kantserova stated.

 She clarified that the region has little practice of criminal prosecution for legalisation. The facts of offshore money transfers and shadow encashment have not been revealed. No crimes in violation of the Article No. 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation have ever been recorded in the Penza region. In general, the criminal law assessment is given to the facts of legalisation in sphere of drug trafficking.

 “At the same time, we are actively acquiring law enforcement practice in this area. As a result of the measures taken this year, four criminal cases under the Article No. 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation were instituted, three of which are related to money laundering from drug trafficking. The fact in the economic sphere was detected for the first time,” the head of the agency reported.

 Head of the RF Federal Security Service Directorate for the Penza region focused on the timeliness of the conference.

 “The relevance of the issue of countering illegal financial transactions stems from direct threats to the national security. This is one of the priorities in the work of security agencies of the Russian Federation and administration of the Penza region, in particular. We have gained considerable positive experience in suppressing the activities of organised criminal groups engaged in illegal financial transactions,” Sergey Sizov emphasised.

 “I am confident that today’s conference will allow us to exchange best practices and methods and to enhance the efficiency of work” he concluded.

 Head of the Directorate of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Penza region underlined that saturated agenda of the conference and high-ranking delegates testify to the significance of the event.

 “Difficult economic climate requires constant analysis of problems. Protection of the state economy is the foundation for the development and advancement of society, social security of citizens,” Sergey Shchetkin said.

 During the conference session, participants presented best practices to counteract illegal financial transactions and discussed problems in this work and their solutions.