Ministry of Finance: Additional FATF supervision does not mean that we are a risky country

The Ministry of Finance said on Saturday that the additional supervision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) does not mean that Croatia is a high-risk country for money laundering or terrorist financing, as the competent authorities will fulfill all planned measures in order to continue the process of strengthening the mechanisms for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Ministry reacted to media articles about the FATF (Global Organization for Monitoring Compliance with International Standards in the Field of Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) assessments of Croatia. Placement under additional supervision, the so-called gray list, does not mean that Croatia has become a high-risk country, but that Croatia commits itself to the FATF to actively cooperate and quickly implement certain measures within the agreed time frames, emphasized the Ministry and added that the expectations for Croatia were positive because at the plenary session progress in numerous areas was noted.

Active cooperation in solving strategic deficiencies

The Ministry reminds that at the recent plenary session of the FATF in Paris, the Action Plan on the remaining measures that Croatia needs to fulfill in the area of further strengthening of the money laundering prevention system was accepted. They emphasize that the FATF published a statement identifying Croatia as a country that actively cooperates in solving strategic deficiencies in its system for preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation. They also note that the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is finalizing the proposal for the Law on International Restrictive Measures, which will soon be presented at the Government session and will be entered into further procedure.

Fulfillment of measures

The Ministry states that the remaining measures that Croatia will fulfill in the next 15 months are: completion of the National Assessment of the Risk of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, increasing the number of employees in the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering, continuing to improve the criminal prosecution of money laundering and the application of measures to ensure the confiscation of property benefits acquired through a criminal offense, systematic detection and investigation of terrorist financing, establishment of an effective system for the implementation of international restrictive measures, and activities in the field of prevention of abuse of non-profit organizations for terrorist financing.

Croatia, they point out, committed to the FATF at the highest political level to continue improving the system for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, in which it has the full support of the European Commission, MONEYVAL and FATF.

In the last 15 months, Croatia has successfully fulfilled 2/3 of the measures, or 44 out of a total of 61 measures, resulting from the report of the MONEYVAL Committee of the Council of Europe, noted the Ministry.

Political support for strengthening the system

They add that regarding this issue, there is high political support for strengthening the system; supervisory and preventive activities; financial intelligence analytics; prosecution of money laundering and terrorist financing; ensuring confiscation of property benefits acquired through a criminal offense and preventing abuse of legal entities for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Source: HRT