March 24, 2005 - 07:50 AMT
US STATE DEPARTMENT: ARMENIA AMONG COUNTRIES THAT CAN POTENTIALLY BECOME MONEY LAUNDERING CENTERS
The US State Department annually publishes a report assessing the money laundering record. Situation in 200 states in the world is being analyzed, Washington ProFile reported. Countries are divided into three categories: "most problematic" (countries where large sums of money are laundered - the US itself is included in this group), "problematic" (such processes are registered, however they have a limited scope) and "traceable" (countries, which do not encounter such problems, but can potentially become money laundering centers." Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK are among the European and Eurasian countries, included in "the most problematic" category in 2004. Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Ireland, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Uzbekistan (it has moved here from the "traced" category) and the Czech Republic are considered "problematic". Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Island, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Norway, San Marino, Slovenia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan are included in the "traced" category.