The Council of Ministers adopted a decision to establish a specialized operational group for the analysis and counteraction of money laundering. This was announced by the outgoing Minister of Interior Daniel Mitov after today's meeting of the outgoing government, BTA reports.
Mitov said that the decision is the result of months-long efforts by a number of institutions and is part of the measures aimed at removing Bulgaria from the gray list of the International Organization for Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (The Financial Action Task Force - FATF).
The specialized operational group will be in the General Directorate of the “National Police“ under the leadership of Yavor Sarafimov - former director of the General Directorate (DG) “Fighting Organized Crime” and current deputy director of the “National Police”, Mitov added. The group will include representatives of institutions involved in combating money laundering, including the National Revenue Agency, the Customs Agency, the State Agency for National Security, the Prosecutor's Office and other structures, Mitov said.
“This group will focus on all analysis and all signals received for money laundering, which will allow for much faster and more coordinated actions and subsequent investigations“, said the outgoing Interior Minister.
He said that the creation of the operational group is the result not only of internal institutional efforts, but also of consultations with Bulgaria's allies and partners, including the European Union, the United States and Great Britain. According to the outgoing Minister, a similar model of institutional interaction is known in the Anglo-Saxon world in the form of the so-called. task force.
Mitov also said that there was an intention to create a similar specialized operational group to counter hybrid threats, but the time of the current government in resignation did not allow it to be implemented. Daniel Mitov expressed confidence that such a structure is also necessary in this area and stated that they will continue to insist on its creation.
“This is a decisive step and a good formula with which the Bulgarian state sets a new institutional framework for combating this type of crime“, said Daniel Mitov.