Financial Crime World

Bulgaria Urged to Improve Fight Against Financial Crime

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, MONEYVAL, has released a report highlighting the need for Bulgaria to strengthen its efforts in combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. The assessment, published today, identifies several areas where the country needs to improve its regulatory framework and practical application of measures.

Assessment Highlights

  • Bulgaria demonstrated a moderate level of effectiveness in assessing money laundering risks and domestic coordination, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist financing.
  • However, the country fell short in other critical areas, including:
    • Use of financial intelligence
    • Investigations and prosecutions of money laundering cases
    • Confiscation of criminal proceeds
    • Targeted financial sanctions

Areas for Improvement

  • MONEYVAL urged Bulgaria to improve its use of financial intelligence to effectively investigate and prosecute money laundering cases.
  • The report also recommended taking a more systematic approach to investigating terrorism financing vulnerabilities in non-profit sectors, including:
    • Improving risk-based supervision of organizations at risk of being misused for terrorist financing
    • Enhancing confiscation regimes
  • MONEYVAL expressed concerns over the understanding of business-related risks by obliged entities and the application of preventative measures in higher-risk areas.
  • Supervisors’ lack of resources was highlighted as a constraint on effective supervision.

Recommendations

  • Establish market entry measures to prevent unlicensed businesses, particularly in high-risk sectors such as real estate brokers and virtual asset service providers.
  • Improve transparency in beneficial ownership regimes.
  • Take urgent action to address concerns over the accuracy of beneficial ownership information held in registers.
  • Prevent criminals from entering certain sectors by implementing effective due diligence procedures.

International Cooperation

  • MONEYVAL commended Bulgaria for providing timely and constructive assistance in international cooperation requests, including mutual legal assistance.

The full report is available online at [link].