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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus said Thursday its will adopt recommendations of a security initiative with the United States to fight money laundering, sanctions evasion and other financial crimes during which a team from FBI was seconded to the Mediterranean island nation for nine months.
The FBI helped train Cypriot police in identifying and prosecuting cases of illegal financing and attempts to evade U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions imposed on any third country.
The U.S. team has also produced a detailed report outlining specific recommendations and proposals including additional staff training, upgrading high-tech systems and amending existing legislation, Cyprus government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told The Associated Press.
He said Cypriot law enforcement authorities are currently looking to put into use the recommendations to bolster their effectiveness.
The joint initiative was set up under the Biden administration after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in 2023 invited FBI and Justice Department officials to assist with investigations into allegations that Cypriot financial service providers had helped Russian oligarchs skirt international sanctions.
Since then, the Trump administration has disbanding the Biden-era Task Force KleptoCapture program which was aimed at seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs. Though last week President Donald Trump said he is “strongly considering” levying new sanctions and tariffs on Russia for its war against Ukraine.
Christodoulides has pledged to clean up Cyprus's reputation as a money laundering and sanctions-evasion hub. As part of those efforts, Cypriot law enforcement agencies received training on financial investigative and forensic accounting techniques both locally and at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary, according to a Cyprus-U.S. joint statement issued last year.
Britain said last December it would share information with the Cypriot Ministry of Finance “to disrupt and intercept the flow of illicit finance through Europe to ensure the effectiveness of sanctions on (Vladimir) Putin’s war machine.”
