FIU strikes deal to obtain direct access to INTERPOL Information System

D. M. Rupasinghe Director, FIU Sri Lanka and D. W. R. B. Seneviratne, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Head of NCB Colombo exchanging copies of the agreement

In terms of the provisions of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (FTRA), the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Sri Lanka entered into an agreement with INTERPOL National Central Bureau for Sri Lanka (NCB Colombo) recently at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to obtain direct access to the INTERPOL Information System. 
Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Head of NCB Colombo, D. W. R. B. Seneviratne and D.M. Rupasinghe, Director, FIU signed the agreement on behalf of the respective institutions in the presence of Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who is also the Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordinating Committee and C. D. Wickramaratne, Acting Inspector General of Police. 

Money laundering and terrorist financing are internationally connected financial crimes which could threaten the stability of domestic as well as global economic and financial systems. 
The agreement would enable to gather intelligence and information which is vital for prevention, detection and prosecution of such offences. 

The FIU has already entered into Memoranda of Understanding with 39 foreign counterparts as well as 10 domestic agencies, namely, Sri Lanka Customs, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Department of Inland Revenue, Department for Registration of Persons, Sri Lanka Police, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, Department of Motor Traffic, Condominium Management Authority and National Gem and Jewellery Authority in order to share information to strengthen the AML/CFT framework of the country.