The information is contained in the UIF 2022 Annual Report, released this Monday and to which Lusa had access, which highlights that the institution authorized the subject entities to suspend the aforementioned operations.
According to the report, more than 45 percent of the aforementioned requests were confirmed by the competent body that opened the respective investigation processes.
The release of this report will allow public and private institutions to be aware of the actions implemented by the FIU in the period of 2022, which aimed to improve the National System for Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, stated in the report.
Regarding requests for information issued and received by the FIU, during 2022, the entity states that it issued a total of 65 requests for information to national institutions and received feedback from 48.
The number of requests made at national level (39 in total) continues to be higher than international requests (7 in total), he highlights.
The FIU, with an autonomous and independent mission to receive, analyze and disseminate information suspected of money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, also recorded a total of 742 cases of suspicious statements and two cases of suspicious statements identification of designated persons.
"When the requirements for making a suspicious transaction declaration or a designated person identification declaration or even a cash transaction declaration do not appear to be met, but it is still believed to be in possession of relevant information for prevention purposes and combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, institutions can send to the FIU a communication that they call spontaneous communications", notes the institution.
During 2022, the FIU recorded a reduction in the number of national spontaneous communications (20 in total compared to 49 in 2021) and a reduction in international spontaneous communications (only one compared to the 18 registered in 2021).
The UIF 2022 Report also highlights the actions that this body developed at national level during this period, namely the Preparation of the National Strategy for the Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering, the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and lines general aspects of the Action Plan.
The FIU also points out, in the document, the need to change its organic status, arguing that the claim arises, on the one hand, as a result of the findings resulting from the Angolan Mutual Assessment process on its performance.
In 2022, the FIU also participated in the drafting of the proposed Law on the Legal Regime of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), a document already generally approved by the Angolan parliament amid protests from the opposition and civil society.
The FIU was part of the working group that prepared the proposed Law on the Legal Regime of NGOs "in order to improve the supervision and regulation framework for the activities of these entities in the country", he maintains.
