Financial Crime World

Bulgaria Urged to Step Up Fight Against Financial Crime

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A recent report by MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, has highlighted several areas where Bulgaria needs to improve its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Key Findings

  • Bulgaria has achieved a moderate level of effectiveness in assessing money laundering and terrorism financing risks, as well as domestic coordination, investigation, and prosecution.
  • However, the country fell short in areas such as:
    • Using financial intelligence
    • Conducting investigations and prosecutions
    • Confiscating criminal proceeds
    • Implementing targeted sanctions

Recommendations for Improvement

  • Enhance the use of financial intelligence to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing
  • Strengthen investigative efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism-related financing
  • Improve the confiscation regime to effectively recover criminal proceeds
  • Take a more systematic approach to investigating terrorism-related financing
  • Implement targeted financial sanctions more effectively

Concerns about Risk Management

  • The report highlighted concerns about the lack of measures to prevent criminals from entering certain sectors, such as:
    • Real estate
    • Virtual asset service providers
  • Bulgaria was also urged to enhance risk-based supervision of non-profit organizations that are at risk of being misused for terrorist financing

Beneficial Ownership Information

  • The report expressed concerns about the accuracy of beneficial ownership information held in registers and by obliged entities
  • MONEYVAL recommended urgent action to review policies and take corrective measures to ensure accurate and reliable beneficial ownership information

International Cooperation

  • Bulgaria was praised for providing timely and constructive assistance in international cooperation requests
  • However, the report emphasized that more needs to be done to improve Bulgaria’s overall effectiveness in combating financial crime