Albania’s Efforts Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: A Review
Immediate Outcome 8: Confiscation
In Albania, the statistics on seized and confiscated assets do not seem proportional to the level of criminality in the country. The non-conviction confiscation regime is applied more often than the mandatory criminal confiscation regime.
- Gaps in Asset Seizure: The statistics on seized and confiscated assets do not appear to reflect the true extent of money laundering activities in Albania.
- Regime Disparity: Non-conviction confiscation is used more frequently than the mandatory criminal confiscation regime, which may indicate a need for reform.
- Investigative Effectiveness: Although parallel financial investigations are systematically applied, their effectiveness in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing remains poor.
Immediate Outcome 10: Non-profit Organizations in the Prevention of IFFs
Albania has an anti-terrorist financing law since 2013 and updated it in 2019 to meet UN requirements. However, there is a lack of understanding of financing risks by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, which may hinder efforts to prevent terrorist financing.
- Legislative Framework: Albania’s anti-terrorist financing law has been in place since 2013 and was updated in 2019 to align with international standards.
- Risk Assessment: The country assesses its risk of terrorist financing as ’low’ due to minimal threats, but this may not reflect the actual level of risk.
- Intelligence and Law Enforcement: There is a lack of understanding of financing risks by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, which may hinder efforts to prevent terrorist financing.
Recommendations for Policymakers
To address these gaps and improve Albania’s efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing, policymakers are recommended to:
- Review Investigative Process: Review the reasons behind poor performance in prosecuting money laundering cases and address shortcomings identified in the investigative process.
- Enhance Risk Analysis: Enhance analysis of money laundering and terrorist financing risks to implement mitigation measures, including understanding the impact of informal economies and corruption on these risks.
- Increase Prosecution Efforts: Pursue more indictments in money laundering cases involving foreign proceeds by using circumstantial evidence about predicate crimes.
- Confiscate Assets Abroad: Ensure efforts are made to identify criminal proceeds located abroad and confiscate them.
- Implement High Standards: Implement high standards for supervisory authorities to prevent financial institutions’ infiltration by organized crime.
- Strengthen FIA Resources: Strengthen the FIA’s resources for supervising private entities.
- Provide Feedback to Reporting Entities: Provide regular feedback to reporting entities on suspicious activity report filings.
By implementing these recommendations, Albania can improve its efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing and reduce the risks associated with these crimes.