Moneyval Chief Departs Role After Report Links Family to Russian Intelligence

The executive secretary of the Financial Action Task Force's affiliate in Europe has left his position following revelations about his family ties to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR.

Russian national Igor Nebyvaev, who has led the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures, or Moneyval, since March 2020, told more than 200 officials Tuesday in an email seen by ACAMS moneylaundering.com that he would step aside with immediate effect.

The Council of Europe, the human rights organization that hosts Moneyval, had come under pressure to remove Nebyvaev after German news outlet Bild reported March 16 that his father, Vladimir, is a senior officer with SVR working out of a military barracks in Moscow.

Bild reported that Ukrainian authorities expelled the elder Nebyvaev and other alleged spies and diplomats from their country in 2018 after the poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain, which attributed the attack to Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU.

Moneyval's secretariat consists of 18 analysts and other staff who identify new money laundering- and terrorist financing-related threats and oversee the group's evaluations of national frameworks against financial crime.

FATF barred Russia from participating in meetings in October and formally suspended the country's membership in February.

Prior to joining Moneyval, Nebyvaev served as executive secretary of the Eurasian Group, FATF's affiliate for Russia, China, Belarus, India and Central Asia, from 2008 to 2010. Rosfinmonitoring, Russia's financial intelligence unit, hosted the Eurasian Group's office of the secretariat during his tenure.

Two sources familiar with Nebyvaev's transfer told moneylaundering.com that he has taken another position at the Council of Europe, where he has worked since 2012.

Livia Stoica-Becht, the Council of Europe's former head of legal cooperation, has replaced Nebyvaev as executive secretary of Moneyval.

Moneylaundering.com could not immediately reach Nebyvaev for comment. Moneyval did not return inquiries by press time.

• Topics: Sanctions and Non-proliferation Finance, Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism
• Source: Moneyval, Russia
• Document Date: March 22, 2023