SLOVENIA FAILS TO COMBAT TERRORISM FINANCING DESPITE PROGRESS IN MONEY LAUNDERING RISK ASSESSMENT

Moderate Improvements in Anti-Money Laundering Measures, but Room for Improvement Remains

Ljubljana, June 10 - A new report by the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL reveals that Slovenia has made moderate improvements in its measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. However, significant legislative deficiencies persist in criminalizing terrorism financing.

Key Findings:

• Upgraded Risk Assessment: Slovenia has upgraded from “partially compliant” to “largely compliant” in assessing risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Legislative Deficiencies: Significant legislative deficiencies persist in criminalizing terrorism financing, failing to meet MONEYVAL’s expectations.
• Progress in Staffing: The number of employees at the Office to Fight Money Laundering assigned to high-risk areas has increased.

Recommendations for Improvement

According to MONEYVAL, Slovenia’s legal framework still lacks adequate provisions for criminalizing terrorism financing. This comes despite three years passing since the adoption of the mutual evaluation report in June 2017.

Next Steps:

• Compliance Enhancing Procedures (CEPs): MONEYVAL will apply its CEPs with regard to Slovenia, beginning with an invitation to the country’s authorities to take necessary corrective measures through a letter from the Council of Europe Secretary General.
• Enhanced Follow-up: Slovenia will remain under enhanced follow-up and is expected to report back to MONEYVAL in one year’s time on progress made to strengthen its implementation of anti-money laundering and combating terrorism financing (AML/CFT) measures.

By implementing these recommendations, Slovenia can further improve its anti-money laundering and combating terrorism financing measures and meet the expectations of MONEYVAL.