As of the date of commencement of the inspection, has been revealed 13 (thirteen) facts of failure to submit transaction reports (CTR) to the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia defined by Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the “Rules for Recording, Storing and Submitting Information on Transactions by an Obliged Entity to the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia” approved by Order № 1 of the Head of the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia dated June 5, 2020, which, in accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph “l” of the “Rules for Determining, Imposing and Enforcing the Amount of Monetary Fines against Currency Exchange Offices and their Administrators” (hereinafter “Penalty Rules”) approved by Order No. 17/04 of the President of the National Bank of Georgia dated February 5, 2020, it envisages a fine of 2,000 (two thousand) GEL for each violation, in total 26,000 (twenty-six thousand) GEL;
52 (fifty-two) facts of failure by a currency exchange office to record information about the client and operations (transactions) through a special software (electronic) system, which, in accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph "k" of the Penalty Rules, it envisages a fine of 7,000 (seven thousand) GEL for each fact of violation, in total 364,000 (three hundred and sixty-four thousand) GEL;
5 (five) case of failure to determine the essence of the client's activity, which, in accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph "t" of the Penalty Rules, it envisages a fine of 2,000 (two thousand) GEL in relation to each client, in total 10,000 (ten thousand) GEL;
Failure to comply with the requirements set forth in Article 29, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Law of Georgia “On Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism”. In particular, the document of internal control that was submitted by the obliged entity is characterized by significant gaps, it cannot meet the requirements defined by the legislation (as well as the guidelines of the National Bank of Georgia), which, in accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph “i” of the Penalty Rules, it envisages a fine of 3,000 (three thousand) GEL;
Failure to comply with the requirements set forth in Article 27, Paragraph 6 of the Law of Georgia “On Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism”. The software (electronic) system implemented in the currency exchange office for the purposes of preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism, functions with significant shortcomings. In particular, it fails to ensure the detection of suspicious/unusual related transactions and the interconnected persons, which, in accordance with Article 3, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph "e" of the Penalty Rules, it envisages a fine of 10,000 (ten thousand) GEL.
The Currency Exchange Office I.E. „Merab Beridze” (Personal Number: 61010007312) has been fined with a total amount of 413,000 (four hundred and thirteen thousand) GEL.