By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
MEPs at two prominent European Parliament committees have overwhelmingly approved Hennie Verbeek-Kusters as a new member of the AMLA Executive Board.
Some 95 members of the ECON (economy) and LIBE (justice) voted on her appointment to the EU’s new AML watchdog.
90 voted in favour, while just three were against. Two MEPs abstained from the vote.
The vote marks one of the final steps before Ms Verbeek-Kusters is officially appointed to the AMLA Executive Board. She still needs the support of a qualified majority of EU governments via the Council of the European Union. However, this is widely viewed as a formality.
Ms Verbeek-Kusters is head of the FIU Netherlands and former chair of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. She takes up the vacancy created when Marcus Pleyer became a State Secretary in the German government.
Before the vote, Javier Zarzalejos, MEP and LIBE committee Chair, said: “The Commission launched an appointment procedure for the fifth position as a member of the executive board of AMLA.
“The ECON and LIBE committee held an in-camera meeting with the shortlisted candidate, Ms Henrica Maria Verbeek-Kusters, on December 2.
“On December 9, the AMLA General Board adopted a proposal for appointing Ms Verbeek-Kusters as a member of the executive board of AMLA.
“Only after the Council [of the European Union] has received the EP [European Parliament] proposal, can it adopt the implemented act of nomination.”
AML Intelligence last week revealed details of her appointment. She appeared before MEPs in private session on Tuesday, December 2 where she impressed the lawmakers.
Her appointment is expected to help alleviate anxiety in some EU capitals that FIUs were under-represented on the AMLA Executive Board.
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