Ministry of Interior creates specialized operational group to combat money laundering. Minister of Interior Daniel Mitov held a working meeting with Chargé d'Affaires H. Martin McDowell, head of the US diplomatic mission in Sofia, and the security team of the US embassy. The meeting was also attended by the deputy directors of the General Directorate “National Police“ (GDNP) and the General Directorate “Fighting Organized Crime“ (GDBOP) Senior Commissioner Yavor Serafimov and Senior Commissioner Dimitar Kitanov, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on its website.
The main topic of the talks was the American model of creating Specialized Operational Groups (SOG) for investigation, in which representatives of various law enforcement institutions and services participate. “The SOG model, which has been imposed on the work of our American partners for almost 50 years, gives its very good results. I had the opportunity to get acquainted with it in detail during my visit to the headquarters of the FBI and the DEA in Washington in June. And now I will rely on our very good cooperation with Chargé d'Affaires McDowell and the embassy team to be able to implement the SOG model in Bulgaria,“ Minister Mitov said at the beginning of the working meeting.
He informed the American partners that he had already determined the fight against money laundering as the first area of investigation, for which a SOG will be created with the participation of police officers from the General Directorate of the National Police and the General Directorate of the Bulgarian Anti-Money Laundering Agency, as well as from other Bulgarian institutions and services. Senior Commissioner Serafimov has been appointed as its head.
“Improving the effective fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as removing Bulgaria from the MONEYVAL grey list, are among the priorities of the Ministry of Interior, included in the program of the “Zhelyazkov“ cabinet. "I believe that the creation of a Special Investigation Group in this area is the first step that will seriously improve the quality of the investigations conducted and will support the implementation of government priorities," emphasized Minister Mitov.