As of today, Serbia is no longer on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) list of countries with strategic deficiencies in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing (the so-called ‘Grey list’), per the FATF’s decision reached in a plenary session held in Orlando, the United States of America.
The FATF has commended Serbia’s significant progress in advancing the system of countering money laundering and terrorist financing, and that Serbia had strengthened its mechanism in that area. The FATF has also stated that Serbia had made great efforts to implement the FATF Action Plan in order to address the technical compliance and the strategic shortcomings which the FATF had identified in February 2018.
As a result, Serbia is no longer subject to the FATF’s monitoring under the framework of further compliance with the standards in countering money laundering and terrorist financing. Moreover, it was found that commitment existed at the highest political level and that there was enough institutional capacity to continue with the respective reform. The remaining recommendation concerns Serbia’s continued efforts to improve its mechanism for countering money laundering and terrorist financing in cooperation with MONEYVAL.
During the session on Serbia’s FATF Action Plan implementation progress report, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović, who was representing the Government of the Republic of Serbia, said that Serbia’s commitment to combating money laundering and terrorist financing was at the highest political level – just as the FATF itself had acknowledged. ‘This process has resulted in a positive but a pain-staking progress, as noted in the FATF’s Euroasian Group (EAG) report. I would like to extend my gratitude to the EAG and commend them for their hard work on preparing an accurate and an objective report’, Kuburović stated.
The Minister added that a lot of work was completed in the past year: 12 statutes had entered into force, completely new regulations had been drafted and adopted, over 60 bylaws, guidelines and other documents had been passed. Out of those, she singled out the new Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act and the amendments to the Criminal Code provisions on the criminal offence of money laundering, which have been in force since March 2018. ‘New institutions have been formed, such as the Game of Chance Directorate, and the structure of the existing ones has been changed’, Kuburović stated. ’Our Coordination Team for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, headed by the Vice-President and Minister of Interior, has ensured that all the interested parties paid proper attention to the issues in this area, especially those identified in the FATF Action Plan’, she noted.
The Justice Minister also said that Serbia was particularly proud of the way in which the legislation had been implemented and of the increased and enhanced national cooperation and coordination in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing over the past 18 months. ‘The latest amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted in May this year, and they encompass more than what was required under the FATF Action Plan. This has ensured full compliance with the highest international standards in supressing terrorism, such as the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism’, Kuburović highlighted.
In conclusion, Minister Kuburović said that Serbia remained committed at the highest political and institutional level to a continued advancement of its mechanism for countering money laundering and terrorist financing, and announced that the new National Strategy for Combatting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing would be adopted by the end of 2019.