site.btaJustice Minister Presents Key Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering Reforms in Washington

Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev presented key reforms against terrorism and money laundering during a meeting in Washington D.C. with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Policy in the U.S. Treasury's Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Scott Rembrandt, the Justice Ministry said on Friday. The discussion focused on Bulgaria’s progress in countering money laundering and the major legislative reforms adopted over the past six months.

Georgiev highlighted three key changes to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code: the updated regulation of terrorism, state confiscation of illegally acquired assets, and stricter penalties for legal entities benefiting from criminal activity.

“I confirmed to Mr. Rembrandt the government’s firm commitment to continue the active implementation of the new legislation we prepared and adopted this summer,” Georgiev said.

Rembrandt also heads the U.S. delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which in 2022 placed Bulgaria on its “grey list” due to insufficient measures and unsatisfactory evaluations of key recommendations from the MONEYVAL Committee. The "grey list" names "jurisdictions under increased monitoring." Such jurisdictions are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. On July 2, the Council of Ministers approved the third and final legislative package with changes needed for Bulgaria to be removed from the list.

According to Goergiev, Bulgaria was placed on FATF’s “grey list” because of the inaction of the previous government, which failed to implement dozens of recommendations given as early as 2022. “This caused serious damage to Bulgaria’s reputation, losses for businesses and discouraged foreign investors from creating jobs here. That directly affects opportunities for young and skilled people to find work in Bulgaria instead of emigrating abroad. After three wasted years, we are now working to catch up on all commitments in less than one year so that next year this progress can be recognized. While some only slander their country before our international partners, our task is to work for Bulgaria by fulfilling our international obligations and presenting results with facts and arguments. This progress is not a political dividend, it is of major benefit to Bulgarian business and the labour market,” Georgiev said.