Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

On 1 July, Monaco became the 46th member State of GRECO (*) - a direct and automatic result of the Principality ratifying the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption on 19 March this year.

Through its accession to GRECO, Monaco joins countries which have actively committed themselves to fighting corruption by accepting to participate in the Group’s mutual evaluation process. An evaluation team will go to Monaco to deal initially with issues related to the themes of the First and Second Evaluation Rounds which were conducted between 1999 and 2006 (notably the capability of institutions to deal with corruption cases and preventive measures taken within the public administration). A further visit of evaluation in the framework of GRECO’s newly launched Third Evaluation Round will be carried out at a later stage and deal with incriminations of corruption and transparency of party funding.

Monaco became a member of the Council of Europe in October 2004. As underlined in the report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on honouring of obligations and commitments by Monaco, the ratification of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption forms part of a series of reforms decided on by Prince Albert II, whose purpose is to give greater transparency to the management of all bodies receiving public funds in the interests of ethics and clarity. Among other things, it is proposed to supplement the rules laying down the conditions in which public servants may or may not conclude contracts, sales or purchases with persons or administrators of companies exercising powers of administration or supervision in those bodies.

Sources : GRECO

Laurent Mosar, who is member of the Parliament in Luxembourg, has this week asked a question to the government in Luxembourg about the project of Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act.
Laurent Mosar asked actually two questions :
1. what is the attitude of the government in front of the draft law ?
2. What necessary steps are planed to protect the interests of the financial center ?

The second question is the wrong one. The relevant question should have been "What is to be done to correct the dysfunctions which definitely harm the reputation of the financial center ?"

Once more dysfunctions are denied and what counts is to make money in this center.

See question (French)

The FATF held a plenary meeting in Paris, France, from 27 to 29 June 2007. The meeting was chaired by the FATF President, Mr Frank Swedlove. Key outcomes from the meeting include: welcoming the People's Republic of China as the FATF's newest member; guidance for the private sector and governments on combating money laundering and terrorist financing; reports on the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing systems of China, Greece and the United Kingdom; and, 2 new studies on money laundering and terrorist financing methods (through real estate and related to drug trafficking in Central Asia).

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