On 3 September, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit Toms Platacis at the Riga Castle. The parties discussed the ongoing efforts to strengthen anti-money laundering measures, the monitoring of sanctions compliance, and the progress of the sixth round of the assessment conducted by the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism - Moneyval.
"I hope that Latvia will successfully complete the Moneyval Round 6 assessment. At the same time, the path towards a transparent financial sector has created an excessive administrative burden for the consumers of financial services. I expect that the responsible institutions will continue to cooperate with the financial sector to ensure the credibility of the sector and also facilitate access to financial services in Riga and the regions of Latvia," said E. Rinkēvičs at the meeting.
The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit Toms Platacis briefed the President of Latvia on the institution's new functions in the field of sanctions. With effect from 1 April 2024, the Financial Intelligence Unit has become the competent institution for enforcing international and national sanctions in Latvia. President Rinkēvičs expressed the view that the continued monitoring of the application of sanctions and prevention of sanctions circumvention in Latvia is critical to constraining Russia's capabilities.
