Key Documents

April 15, 1999

June 22, 2012

March 31, 2014

December 23, 2010

Important Facts

The U.S. State Department identifies Nicaragua as a major money laundering country, especially since the jurisdiction is transit nation for illegal narcotics. Money laundering methodologies facilitate government corruption and international organized crime groups’ trafficking of illegal narcotics, mostly cocaine. Other methods of money laundering include traditional forms such as real estate transactions, sale of vehicles, livestock farming, money transfers, lending, and serial small transactions. Risks of illicit finance are heightened due to: informal “cash and carry” networks that deliver remittances from abroad; market vendors that deal in cash; the existence of multiple, nontransparent, quasi-public businesses that manage large cash transactions and have ties to the ruling party, and the proliferation of shell companies. Money laundering is additionally prevalent due to the Nicaraguan government's unwillingness to investigate sanctioned individuals and its decision to harbor high-profile former foreign officials accused of corruption and financial crimes. Nicaragua remained a transit country for narcotics and money laundering despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Illegal trafficking and money laundering instances escalated in 2020 due to U.S. sanctions on Ivan Acosta, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit for supporting human rights violations, as well as Caja Rural National Savings and Credit Cooperative.

Source: 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)

Nicaragua's technical compliance was re-rated in a January 2021 follow-up report

Rank : 96/110

Score : 6.75/10

Rank : 159/179

Score : 22/100

Rank : N/A

Score : N/A