Liechtenstein Chief Prosecutor Takes Stock Of Money Laundering Situation

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

15 August 2001

Now that the rush to meet the FATF disclosure deadline has passed, the Liechtenstein financial services sector is taking time to reflect on the events of the past year. The principality's chief prosecutor, Robert Wallner, recently gave an interview to the 'Liechtensteiner Vaterland' to commemorate his installation in the position this time last year.

In it, he admitted that Liechtenstein had been popular with tax evaders and money launderers in the past, partly because although internal penal justice had been functioning normally, there had been large problems with regard to white collar crime and international legal assistance. 'Criminals have abused the special features of Liechtenstein as a location for financial services and the defects in the implementation of the law for their practices,' he explained.

However, he added that the legal assistance infrastructure was now in place, and had proved itself effective. In the first six months of this year, he revealed, 199 demands for legal assistance had reached the country, a rise of more than 33% on the same period the previous year.

In closing, he warned against complacency within the sector over the issue of anti-money laundering provisions, perhaps mindful of the critics who dismissed Liechtenstein's efforts in the run up to the release of the revised FATF list as mere 'window dressing'. 'In the future, it will be necessary to react actively to new developments, before being forced to do so by pressure from abroad. Then, there will be no problem with credibility,' he cautioned.

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