Today, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilić received Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury Mr Paul Ahern. The topic of the discussion was fight against organised crime and corruption which Mr Ilić said was one of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice and the Government of Serbia.
Mr Ilić noted that the Organisation and Competencies of Government Authorities in Fighting Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act had been in force since 1 March 2018, which among other things established anti-corruption departments in high courts and high prosecutor’s offices in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraljevo and Niš. As a result, over 900 final judgements on crimes of corruption crimes have been passed.
Mr Ilić added that the Property Origin and Special Taxation Bill − by nature a corruption prevention statute − would be before the deputies of the National Assembly of Serbia the following week. He explained that the foundation of the Bill was the method of property cross-checking which would be applied through a special taxation procedure by the Tax Administration.
Mr Ahern congratulated Serbia on no longer being on the FATF’s list of countries with strategic weaknesses in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. He said that Serbia was the country to be removed from the list the fastest, and that it served as an example to other countries still on the list. He concluded by saying that the USA supported the development of repressive systems towards the prevention of money laundering.