NICOSIA - Cyprus has adopted and implemented a high-level institutional framework aiming at combating money laundering, in full compliance with the EU acquis communautaire, Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefnou said on Monday.
Commenting on allegations and media reports about Cyprus’s role as an international investment centre, Stefanou said that “the implementation of the institutional framework by Cyprus has been evaluated by MoneyVal, the competent Council of Europe Committee, in October 2011, as very satisfying.”
According to the Spokesman Cyprus has been commended as regards its legal framework aiming at combating money laundering as well as for the implementation of this framework, in a series of reports issued either by MoneyVal or by the Financial Action Task Force which functions under the G20 auspices, or by the International Monetary Fund.”
Referring to Russian investments in Cyprus banks, Stephanou noted that “this is due to the attractiveness of the Cypriot system and the comparative advantages of Cyprus, as for example the double taxation avoidance framework with many countries, including Russia.”
He said that this framework includes a system for information exchange between Cyprus and other countries, which fully complies with the international standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Stefanou noted that an updated double avoidance taxation agreement between Cyprus and Russia was signed in 2010, during a visit of the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Cyprus. (CNA)