Costa Rica could be expelled from Egmont Group

In the 1995 G8 meeting, the G8 countries formed the Egmont Group to share intelligence information from Financial Intelligence Units (FIU’s) and monitor suspicious or unusual financial transactions. However after many years as part of this organisation it appears that Costa Rica is close to being expelled for not passing any anti-terrorism laws.

The group is saying that Costa Rica has until the end of May to pass a law making terrorism a crime in Costa Rica otherwise they will be expelled from the group. For a country with no history of terrorism and no army it is hard to see why Costa Rica would have ever passed such a law. Costa Rica is seen as the Switzerland of the Central Americas and therefore is a neutral country and would not have such measures in place. But with the huge amount of Americans living now in Costa Rica maybe it is time to pass such a law?

Costa Rica is also receiving pressure from the United Nations as they are a member of the UN and hence have to comply with the rules set by the UN Security Council for the suppression of Terrorism Financing. Currently Costa Rica has no laws about the financing of terrorism and terrorism is not a crime in Costa Rica.

As Costa Rica has a history of Financial Crimes it is paramount that they do not lose this membership to the Egmont Group as otherwise it may hinder any future financial cases. This is now in the hands of the Legislative Assembly and this will not be a quick procedure and Costa Rica will need to fast track this in order to stay part of the Egmont Group.

http://www.amlosphere.com/america/legislation/costa-rica-could-be-expelled-from-egmont-group.html