Government proposes legislation that would give institutions access to citizen’s bank information

The Finance Ministry has forwarded into public debate proposed legislation, which is in line with EU Directive on the Prevention of Financial Crime that would give the State Attorney's Office, the Customs Office, the Police and the Tax Administration access to the bank accounts of companies and citizens.

According to the Finance ministry, the goal of the proposed legislation is to fight money laundering, tax evasion and other white collar crimes. State Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Stjepan Čuraj: “This in no way deals with information as to account balances or transactions, but rather information as to the true holder of the account, or bank safe, and all those who have been authorized to access those accounts or safes.”

However, there have been some concerned raised that this represents an intrusion into the basic rights of citizens. Former SDP Finance Minister Boris Lalovac said that while the SDP supports the move in general, it does not believe that such a vast number of institutions need to have access to the personal details of account holders. He said that when before the bill comes to a vote in parliament, the SDP will move to reduce the number of state institutions that can access that information.

Source: HRT