Financial Crime World

Albania Urged to Step Up Efforts in Combating Financial Crime

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring body, MONEYVAL, has published its fifth-round evaluation report on Albania. The report highlights significant concerns regarding the country’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Corruption: A Major Risk Factor

Corruption is identified as a major risk factor in Albania, generating substantial amounts of criminal proceeds and undermining the effectiveness of the country’s criminal justice system. The report notes that law enforcement has paid limited attention to targeting corruption-related money laundering so far.

Recommendations for Enhanced Efforts

MONEYVAL recommends that the Albanian authorities take the following steps:

  • Conduct a more in-depth risk assessment to identify and mitigate AML risks
  • Address the impact of corruption and organized crime on AML risks
  • Assess the risk posed by legal persons
  • Review the reasons behind low indictment rates in ML cases involving foreign proceeds

Confiscation of Criminal Proceeds

Albania has a robust legal framework for confiscating criminal proceeds, but the report notes that seized and confiscated assets are not commensurate with the level of criminality in the country. MONEYVAL recommends identifying and taking action to confiscate criminal proceeds located abroad.

Concerns over Terrorist Financing

The report highlights concerns over terrorist financing, noting that there is no systematic approach towards identifying and investigating financing aspects of terrorism-related offences. MONEYVAL recommends a more robust approach to addressing these risks.

Recommendations for the Bank of Albania and FSA

MONEYVAL notes that:

  • The Bank of Albania has a good understanding of AML and TF risks, but recommends improving supervision and risk-based assessment
  • The Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has been limited in its inspections and recommends ensuring high standards when reviewing applications for licenses by financial institutions

Legislative Reforms

The Albanian authorities are urged to take legislative steps to simplify the existing legal framework for executing foreign mutual legal assistance requests and introducing a case management system. Direct cooperation between counterpart judicial authorities is also encouraged.

Follow-up Procedure

MONEYVAL decided to apply its enhanced follow-up procedure to Albania, which will involve regular monitoring of progress made by the country in addressing AML concerns.