Financial Intelligence Unit and Excise Department partner to combat financial crime

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has forged a partnership with the Excise Department through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at bolstering efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other associated financial crimes. This collaboration, formalized last month, falls under the guidelines of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006 (FTRA), as announced by the Central Bank in a recent press statement dated Friday, February 16.

The MoU was signed by J. M. S. N. Jayasinghe, the Commissioner General of Excise, and E. H. Mohotty, the then-Director of FIU, in a ceremony attended by Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank and Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordinating Committee.

This agreement is a strategic move by the Central Bank to facilitate the exchange of critical information between the FIU and the Excise Department, essential for the prevention, detection, and legal pursuit of financial crimes that pose a threat to both national and international economic stability.

Since 2008, the FIU has established 44 MoUs with international counterparts and 11 with domestic agencies, including Sri Lanka Customs, the Department of Immigration and Emigration, the Inland Revenue Department, and the Sri Lanka Police, among others. These agreements are pivotal in reinforcing Sri Lanka’s framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.