VZCZCXRO6731
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHSK
RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNT #0197/01 0501035
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191243Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0495
INFO ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
CIS COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000197 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR INL ANDREW BUHLER 
DEPT OF JUSTICE FOR CATHERINE NEWCOMBE 
TREASURY FOR ANNE WALLWORK 
MOSCOW FOR PETE PRAHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EFIN ECON KCRM PINR UZ
SUBJECT: Uzbekistan Still Seems on Track with Money Laundering 
 
Reforms 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Government of Uzbekistan is currently in the 
midst of a process to enact legislative changes that would bring 
its anti-money laundering and countering the finance of terrorism 
(AML/CFT) regime into compliance with international standards.  The 
Uzbeks are likely on track to fulfill the commitments they made to 
the Financial Action Task Force, which gave the GOU 180 days to 
restore its AML/CFT regime.  The World Bank and United Nations 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had a productive technical 
assistance visit to Tashkent in January, but we have been unable to 
obtain a draft copy of key legislation that would enable us to 
facilitate agreed-upon U.S. technical assistance.  The bureaucratic 
hassles and inter-agency stalling are par for the course in our 
dealings with Uzbekistan and, as frustrating as it is, we do not 
view this as a sign the reform measures will fall through.  The 
Uzbeks are well aware that the international community is aligned 
against them on this issue and that strong countermeasures by FATF 
could seriously affect the local economy.  End summary. 
 
Promises to FATF 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Following up a November 24-25 assessment visit by FATF and 
the Eurasian Group (EAG) to Uzbekistan, FATF President Antonio 
Gustavo Rodrigues sent a letter on December 8, 2008 to First Deputy 
Prime Minister Rustam Azimov in which Rodrigues took note of 
Azimov's remarks confirming Uzbekistan's commitment to correcting 
deficiencies in its AML/CTF regime within six months.  Rodrigues 
also acknowledged that Uzbekistan "would welcome and fund a 
technical advisor from the FATF or a FATF country to assist in 
legislative drafting."  In a response to the letter, Azimov 
confirmed this and also noted that a working group had been 
established to coordinate the initiative to implement legislative 
changes, regardless of whether technical assistance was available 
or not. 
 
IOs Provide Technical Assistance 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Post subsequently made multiple unsuccessful efforts with 
several ministries to obtain a copy of the draft law; however, a 
joint World Bank, UNODC, and IMF technical assistance mission was 
conducted to Tashkent on January 12-16.  Klaudio Stroligo of the 
World Bank/UNODC and Giuseppe Lombardo from the IMF reported that 
their numerous meetings were productive and Uzbek officials did 
share a copy of the draft legislation with them.  On January 16, 
Uzbek officials informed the embassy that they wanted to 
incorporate feedback from the World Bank/UNODC/IMF technical 
assistance mission and would hold off on sharing the draft with the 
U.S. until that process was complete.  (Comment:  The Uzbeks 
consider international organizations to be more neutral and less 
likely to dole out criticism, and this may be why the visiting team 
was given a draft of the law and we were not.  In any case, it is a 
good sign that the Uzbeks are engaging with the international 
community on the issue.  End comment.) 
 
High-Level Written Request 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) On January 26, after more than a month of efforts to pry 
loose a copy of the draft law, Ambassador Norland sent a letter to 
First Deputy Prime Minister Azimov under cover of a diplomatic note 
reiterating our request for a copy of the draft law in order to 
proceed with previously agreed upon technical assistance from the 
U.S.  (Note:  A scanned copy of the English and Russian 
translations was forwarded to the desk.  End note.)  As of February 
17, despite the letter, we have received no response or 
information.  The MFA Americas Desk confirmed to poloff by phone 
most recently on February 13 that the request remains "under 
consideration by other parties." 
 
Comment: 
--------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The vague reference to other parties usually means that 
the National Security Service and/or the Presidential Apparat are 
holding up the information, but this may just be an ingrained 
knee-jerk reaction to sharing anything, let alone a document that 
 
TASHKENT 00000197  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
lawmakers have not yet seen.  We do not take it personally, and we 
believe the strong message from the international community, as 
delivered through FATF and EAG, has convinced the Uzbeks to get the 
job done.  We know for a fact that the draft law was written and we 
believe it was duly submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers (which 
matters) in advance of token submission to the lower house of the 
parliament.  The legislation will not be in place for the February 
FATF plenary session, as the Central Bank had optimistically 
indicated, but the Uzbeks still have time before the six-month 
period elapses.  Despite two months of fruitless efforts to obtain 
information, eventual engagement on the AML/CFT issue would add 
much-needed depth to our cooperation on rule of law issues.  By 
extending a hand to help the Uzbeks out of an uncomfortable 
situation with FATF, we are demonstrating our commitment to 
bringing Uzbekistan into the mainstream, which should open more 
doors.  This makes it worth the prolonged wait to get a copy of the 
draft law and to encourage the realization of technical assistance. 
NORLAND 
 
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