About 1000 reports on suspicious transactions have been submitted to Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Financial Monitoring Center since 2006, the center’s head said.

As Daniel Azatyan told a press conference, particularly plastic card transactions, counterfeit checks and letters, as well as securities spark doubts.

The expert further pointed to construction sector as the most risky infrastructure in Armenia for money laundering, with letters presenting counterfeit documents for receipt of goods often filed.

“Financial Monitoring Center cooperates with law enforcement authorities, with about 230 applications submitted for the past five years. Several legal proceedings have been recorded in 2012, with the case of abuse of office by bank employees’ among them,” he said, adding that Armenia was never included Council of Europe’s list of countries engaged in money laundering, in contrast to Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

The Financial Monitoring Center (FMC) was established in 2005 as a separate unit in the structure of the Central Bank of Armenia. The FMC is an administrative-type financial intelligence unit, which acts as an intermediary between reporting entities and law enforcement authorities. The mission of the FMC is to combat money laundering and terrorism financing (AML/CFT).

The main function of the FMC is to collect, analyze and exchange information for AML/CFT purposes. In addition, the FMC represents the Republic of Armenia in several international organizations and structures, while actively participating in international AML/CFT initiatives.