site.btaCabinet Approves Final Legislative Package to Remove Bulgaria from Money Laundering "Grey List", Justice Minister Says

The Council of Ministers approved the third and final legislative package with changes needed for Bulgaria to be removed from the so-called “grey list” for money laundering, Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev told journalists on Wednesday after a regular Cabinet meeting.

According to Georgiev, due to failure to meet international commitments and lack of reforms in legislation, Bulgaria has not complied with the recommendations of international organizations in the past two years. This has seriously complicated the activities of Bulgarian citizens and companies not only in the country but also abroad during international negotiations. Besides being a matter of prestige, this issue is crucial for economic development and attracting foreign investment, he added. Large international companies traditionally avoid investing in countries on the “grey list” for money laundering because the investment environment does not guarantee the rule of law, Georgiev said.

Georgiev reminded that the first package has already been adopted and is part of the current legislation. The second package was reviewed in Parliament and the amendments to the Penal Code were approved at first reading. “This is the third and final package, and our goal is to complete the necessary actions by the end of July,” he explained.

In 2022, Bulgaria was placed on the “grey list” of countries under enhanced monitoring due to insufficient measures and unsatisfactory evaluations of key recommendations from the MONEYVAL Committee. The "grey list" names "jurisdictions under increased monitoring." Such jurisdictions are actively working with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring, the FATF says on its website.