Minister: Russia to start offshore amnesty talks with FATF next week

MOSCOW, Mar 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian government will discuss an offshore amnesty bill with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the week starting on March 30, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a government meeting Thursday.

The FATF said in January that full offshore amnesty promised by President Vladimir Putin contradicts FATF rules, and the organization may blacklist Russia.

Several Russian government officials said then that Moscow will avoid FATF blacklisting at all costs.

After consultations with the organization, the government will amend the bill, and the amendments will, most probably, be considered in a second reading in the State Duma, parliament’s lower chamber, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the meeting.

Medvedev said that it is not necessary to drive property back to Russia to make it legal.

“The legalization procedure itself does not make it necessary to get property back to Russia, one only needs its transfer to a transparent jurisdiction, which is not in a so-called FATF black list. Well, and he will need to drive the property away from countries, with which Russia does not have agreements on double taxation avoidance,” Medvedev said.

Capital legalization will free businessmen from criminal persecution and penalties for any cases of tax avoidance until 2014, Siluanov said. The amnesty will not be applied on people already under trial, he said.

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