Financial Crime World

Bulgaria Urged to Improve Anti-Corruption Measures in Finance

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, MONEYVAL, has issued a report calling on Bulgaria to strengthen its regulatory framework and improve the practical application of measures to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Assessment of Compliance with International Standards

MONEYVAL assessed Bulgaria’s level of compliance with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). According to the report, Bulgaria achieved a moderate level of effectiveness in areas such as:

  • Assessing money laundering and terrorism financing risks
  • Domestic coordination
  • Investigation and prosecution of terrorism financing

However, the country demonstrated a low level of effectiveness in areas including:

  • Use of financial intelligence
  • Investigations and prosecutions of money laundering
  • Confiscation of proceeds of crime
  • Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation financing

Recommendations for Improvement

MONEYVAL commended Bulgaria for conducting a comprehensive national risk assessment and noted that the country has a reasonable understanding of main money laundering risks. However, the report found that:

  • The lack of comprehensive statistics limits the authorities’ understanding and abilities to react to risks
  • Challenges exist in inter-agency cooperation between law enforcement agencies due to technical constraints

To address these challenges, MONEYVAL recommended that Bulgaria:

  • Improve the use of financial intelligence, investigation, and prosecution of money laundering
  • Enhance confiscation regime, which is currently hindered by technical and procedural constraints
  • Take a more systematic approach to investigating the financing aspects of terrorism-related offenses
  • Improve the national mechanism for implementing targeted financial sanctions
  • Conduct more comprehensive analysis of terrorism financing vulnerabilities in non-profit sectors
  • Enhance risk-based supervision or monitoring of non-profit organizations that are at risk of being misused for terrorism financing

Additional Recommendations

MONEYVAL also recommended that Bulgaria:

  • Establish measures to prevent criminals from entering the market for certain sectors, such as real estate brokers and virtual asset service providers
  • Take proactive measures to prevent unlicensed businesses
  • Review its beneficial ownership regime and take urgent action to address concerns regarding accuracy of beneficial ownership information

International Cooperation

Finally, MONEYVAL praised Bulgaria’s efforts in providing timely and constructive assistance across a range of international cooperation requests, including mutual legal assistance.