Holding a full "Offshore amnesty" at the moment is impossible: the outcome of officials

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As is known, earlier Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, set a task for the Russian officials, which consisted in carrying out all the necessary actions for a "full amnesty of capital", that would be returned from offshores. This task was voiced in the Address to the Federal Assembly. But with direct consideration of the options for solving the problem proposed by the president, officials faced difficulties.

Their essence is the impossibility of holding such an amnesty with strict observance of the president's recommendations.

The reason is a discrepancy, or more precisely, a contradiction to the principles of the FATF (the organization responsible for developing standards to counter the financing of terrorism and criminal laundering of capital).

In other words, holding a full amnesty for returning offshore companies to Russia is a threat to include the Russian Federation in the "black list" of the FATF. This conclusion was reached by the participants of the recent meeting at the Ministry of Finance.

According to one of the officials, the following conclusion was made during the discussion of the situation: that scheme and those principles of amnesty for offshore companies that were proposed can not be applied in its pure form. That is, the above methods do not solve the problem.

What is the discrepancy with the FATF?

The FATF rules do not provide for any, even partial, exemption from the laws on combating money laundering in relation to offshores. Failure to comply with these principles can lead to the inclusion of Russia in the "black list". This scenario is extremely undesirable, given the current trends in Russia's foreign economic relations.

Is "offshore amnesty" so dangerous?

At the same time, as opposed to the concerns of federal officials, the opinion of Andrei Belousov, presidential aide, was expressed. He explained that FATF principles and norms will not be ignored during the execution of Vladimir Putin's order to conduct a full "offshore amnesty".

That, in turn, excludes the possibility of Russia falling into that “black list”. The presidential aide explained that the elaboration of construction of the amnesty process is still under development; a list of articles due to which the business owners are not threatened with the initiation of proceedings will soon be clarified.

Among those who will definitely not be able to take advantage of the terms of the amnesty are the owners of suspicious capital (obtained from laundering criminal proceeds, drug trafficking operations).

Time to prepare is still there.

In its address to experts, the Ministry of Finance asks to find ways to overcome difficulties and remove contradictions in the course of a full "offshore amnesty." In this regard, Dmitry Peskov, the presidential press secretary, reminded that officials can use the remaining time (which is more than 5 months) to determine ways for breaking the deadlock.

Let’s remind that the president gave the term for the officials until July 15 to ensure that they fully prepared a bill that provides a "painless" return of capitals from offshores.

Particular attention should be paid to legal guarantees for every business owner: entrepreneurs should not be afraid of being under pressure from tax and law enforcement agencies and they will not be required to disclose sources and means of obtaining capital.