President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov signed the Law «On Amendments to the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic «On Combating the Financing of Terrorist Activities and Money Laundering».

The document was adopted by the Parliament on December 12, 2024. Its purpose is to create a legal framework and increase the effectiveness of the fight against the financing of organized groups and criminal communities using the existing mechanisms provided for in the law.

Key changes to the law:

• The term «financing of terrorist or extremist activities and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction» has been replaced by a broader term — «financing of criminal activity»;
• Law enforcement agencies and national security agencies are required to conduct financial investigations of all circumstances related to criminal activity;
• Exchange of information between law enforcement agencies, national security agencies, the prosecutor’s office and the financial intelligence agency will be carried out not only at the stage of investigation (pre-trial proceedings) into criminal cases, but also at the stage of operational-search activities.

• Government agencies and institutions involved in the registration of such transactions are subject to obligations to apply targeted financial sanctions;
• Updating measures to suspend transactions;
• Measures to ensure transparency of beneficial owners of legal entities now also apply to branches or representative offices of foreign legal entities;
• Financial institutions and non-financial organizations have to report suspicious transactions to the financial intelligence unit, if they are related to the financing of criminal groups, organized communities or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.