Amendments to bill No. 9296-d on tightening financial monitoring of PEP (politically exposed persons) on postponing entry into force until Ukraine joins the EU and creating a PEP register contradict the agreements of Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and international standards in in this area, IMF Resident Representative to Ukraine Vahram Stepanyan has said.

"An effective Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime is vital to efforts to combat corruption. The alignment of the definition of politically exposed persons (PEP) in Ukraine with the international AML/CFT standards is a key reform under the past and current IMF-supported programs and is critical towards EU membership," Stepanyan said in response to an information request from Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the exclusion of a PEP register with names of individual persons is important especially since it is not supported by the international AML/CFT standard setter (FATF) as well as by Ukraine state agencies.

"In light of the missed end-September target date, IMF staff have high expectations on the swift enactment of the reform and its operationalization," the Fund's Resident Representative said.

As reported, the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy on October 13 recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt bill No. 9296-d at the final reading, as amended, which tightens the requirements for such monitoring only from the moment Ukraine joins the EU.