Jul 13 2009 Direct News
Around €1bn is laundered in Serbia every year but new laws and increased cooperation between enforcement agencies are set to tighten the net on illegal money transfers, a government official has said. Aleksandar Vujicic, director of the money laundering prevention department at the Ministry of Finance, told a recent press conference that the country had introduced regulations based on European standards that would soon improve its monitoring of suspicious transactions, Radio Srbija reports.
He added that its surveillance and reporting system for financial transactions had been developed in partnership with the US Agency for International Development. Vujicic said Serbia is now fully compliant with United Nations and European Directives on money laundering.
The official added that 2,900 suspicious transactions had been flagged up in 2008, although not all of these were believed to be linked to money laundering. On average, he added, around 70 suspicious transactions were referred to special prosecutors every year.
