site.btaJustice Minister Georgiev Discusses Bulgaria’s Anti-Money Laundering Progress in Strasbourg

Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev met in Strasbourg on Friday with Hanne Junker, Director of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe, and Livia Becht, Head of the Economic Crime and Corruption Department and Executive Secretary of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), as well as representatives of the MONEYVAL committee, the Ministry of Justice said.

The participants discussed Bulgaria’s progress in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.

The most recent MONEYVAL committee report from June notes that Bulgaria has taken many steps to strengthen its systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Bulgaria now meets the requirements of 32 recommendations set by the intergovernmental organization FATF, with commitments remaining on a further eight recommendations.

Georgiev noted that over the past six months, the Bulgarian government has approved three legislative packages containing measures to support efforts to remove Bulgaria from the ‘grey list’ in line with international standards and the recommendations of MONEYVAL and FATF. The amendments to the Measures Against the Financing of Terrorism Act, which introduced provisions controlling the spread of weapons of mass destruction and improved the legal framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, have already been adopted by the National Assembly.

A second package, which covers changes to the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Administrative Offences and Penalties Act, aims to expand the scope of criminal prosecution for terrorism and introduce measures against the bribery of foreign officials. This set of amendments has passed its first reading in Parliament. Just days ago, the Council of Ministers also approved and submitted for parliamentary vote legislative changes addressing the confiscation of assets acquired from crime by third-party bad-faith actors.

“With these amendments, for the first time in Bulgaria we are creating a procedural order for the seizure, storage, and handling of crypto-assets and cryptocurrencies so they can be preserved for the purposes of criminal proceedings. This is extremely important, because organized crime is increasingly using such types of assets,” Georgiev said.

“Removing Bulgaria from the money laundering ‘grey list’ is a key task for the Zhelyazkov cabinet. That is why in just a few months the Ministry of Justice has managed to prepare amendments to five statutory instruments. We are working flat out, since major international companies traditionally do not invest in countries that are on the ‘grey list’, and this deprives Bulgarian citizens of new professional opportunities,” Georgiev added.

During the meeting with GRECO representatives, the ministry team also presented progress in implementing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the area of legislative changes for judicial reform and anti-corruption measures of the cabinet. After four years of stagnation and a lack of legislative activity, the government is determined to meet the recommendations in the shortest possible time, and this is already appreciated by Bulgaria's international partners, Georgiev concluded.