The Committee of Experts on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism of the Council of Europe MONEYVAL has completed the Fifth Evaluation Round for Bulgaria, the Ministry of Justice announced, citing data from the committee.
MONEYVAL informs that our country has implemented all 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the level of "full compliance" or "largely compliant". The conclusion of the European body was officially announced today. It notes that Bulgaria has strengthened its legal framework for preventing and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The Committee notes the efforts made by our country and the legislative reforms carried out related to the financing of terrorism, after a separate chapter on the crime of "terrorism" was created in the Criminal Code. MONEYVAL also notes as positives the introduction of the possibility of confiscating criminal assets from third-party unscrupulous persons in favor of the state, the parallel development of proceedings against individuals and legal entities in one criminal case for a committed crime, etc.
The final assessment of the FATF on the removal of Bulgaria from the "grey list" is yet to be released.
The Minister of Justice Nikolay Naydenov commented yesterday in Paris that our country has successfully implemented all measures under the action plan for exiting the "grey list". In the French capital, he participated in a meeting of the FATF Implementation Review Working Group.
What is money laundering?
Money laundering and terrorist financing are of significant concern to the EU economy and financial system, as well as to the security of its citizens, the European Council recalled.
On 20 July 2021, the European Commission presented a package of legislative proposals to protect the EU financial system and its citizens against money laundering and terrorist financing.
On 30 May 2024, the Council adopted this legislative package, which will further strengthen and expand EU rules on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The package creates a new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AML/CFT) that will have a coordinating role as well as direct and indirect supervisory powers.