Nicaragua Nicaragua

New Documents

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a proposed bill aimed at utilizing U.S. diplomatic tools to advance democratic elections in Nicaragua.

The Financial Action Task Force of Latin America issued a fifth enhanced follow-up report on the anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing framework of Nicaragua, highlighting re-ratings on the country’s compliance with three Financial Action Task Force Recommendations.

News

Enforcement Actions

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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)

Rankings

FATF i | 2013 Methodology

Technical Effectiveness
Compliant : 7 High : 0
Largely Compliant : 30 Substantial : 1
Partially Compliant : 2 Moderate : 7
Non-Compliant : 1 Low : 3

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

BASEL i

Rank : 96/110
Score : 6.75/10

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL i

Rank : 159/179
Score : 22/100

Tax Justice Network i

Rank : N/A
Score : N/A