site.btaOutgoing Interior Minister Announces Establishment of Anti-Money Laundering Task Force

The Council of Ministers has adopted a decision to establish a specialized operational task force for analysing and countering money laundering, outgoing Interior Minister Daniel Mitov announced after Tuesday’s meeting of the Cabinet.

Mitov said the decision is the result of many months of efforts by a number of institutions and is part of the measures aimed at removing Bulgaria from the grey list of the international organization combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism (the Financial Action Task Force – FATF).

The specialized operational task force will be set up within the General Directorate National Police and will be headed by Yavor Sarafimov – former Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and current Deputy Director of the General Directorate National Police, Mitov added. The group will include representatives of institutions involved in countering money laundering, including the National Revenue Agency, the Customs Agency, the State Agency for National Security, the prosecution service, and other structures, he said.

“All analysis and all reports received regarding money laundering will be concentrated within this group, which will enable much faster and better-coordinated actions and subsequent investigations,” the outgoing Interior Minister stated.

He noted that the establishment of the task force is the result not only of inter-institutional efforts within the country, but also of consultations with Bulgaria’s allies and partners, including the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. 

Mitov also said that there had been an intention to establish a similar specialized operational group to counter hybrid threats, but the limited time of the now outgoing government did not allow this to be implemented. Daniel Mitov expressed confidence that such a structure is necessary in that area as well and said they would continue to insist on its establishment.

“This is a decisive step and a good formula through which the Bulgarian state is establishing a new institutional framework to combat this type of crime,” Daniel Mitov said.