money laundering best practices, lessons to be learnt and steps

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and financial institutions and persons, and transmits relevant information to the PublicProsecutor 33 .In accordance with the Law no.656/2002, the list of predicate offences for money laundering hasthe “all-crimes” approach, and requires that every banking operation involving a sum exceedingEUR 10,000 has to be reported to the NOPCML and monitored. The “know your customer“identification requirements have also been honed so that the identification of the client becomesnecessary upon both the beginning of a relationship and upon single or multiple transactionsmeeting or approaching a EUR 10,000 standard and, in addition, tipping off has been prohibited.Romanian law permits the disclosure of client and ownership information to bank supervisors andlaw enforcement authorities, and protects banking officials with respect to their cooperation withlaw enforcement.The NOPCML receives and evaluates STRs as well as CTRs. The law also provides for feedbackto be given, upon request, to NOPCML from the Public Prosecutor’s office, and for NOPCML toparticipate in inspections and controls.The crime of money laundering is also treated in Romanian law as a possible “crime directlyrelated to a corruption offence”, and, therefore, if there is a direct connection between moneylaundering and a corruption offence, the pre-trial investigation and prosecution of both crimeswill be conducted by the National Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office. Generally, moneylaundering is penalised by 3-12 years of prison. Association in order to commit money launderingis punished by 5-15 years of inprisonment. 34According to the second Moneyval evaluators, the main economic sectors affected by moneylaundering are: interior/foreign commerce, banking-financial sector, capital market. A specialproblem is the foreign currency exchange involving Romanian citizens. Illegal funds to belaundered are generally routed through Romanian and foreign banks and other financialinstitutions.FIU receives, analyzes and process information about suspicions of money laundering andterrorist financing, transactions (Lei or foreign currency) above EUR 10,000 and information33Art 6 of the Law no.656/200234Chapter IV of Law no.656/2002Money Laundering Best Practices,Lessons to be Learnt in the Balkan RegionWritten by Tamara BrneticPage 41 of 58
about unusual transactions from a very comprehensive range of banking and financial institutionsand persons (including lawyers, notaries and accountants). 35Once a report has been made, after analyzing it and, eventually, after ordering the suspension ofthe transaction, the NOPCML will transmit information to the Public Prosecutor when theNOPCML considers there is “solid indication” of money laundering. NOPCML may suspend thesuspicion operation for 3 days, and the Public Prosecutor may, if this period is not enough for theinvestigation, prolong the measure for another 4 days. 36Predicate offences on which the money laundering offence is based is the all crimes approach; thecoverage area of the reporting entities includes art objects dealers, personnel with responsibilitiesin the privatization process, postal offices, companies that ensure fast electronic transfer of funds,real estate agents and the State treasury. Identification obligation applies as from the date ofentering into a business relation with a client.From the end of 1999, when the NOPCML became operational, to the end of 2005, more than900 notifications have been submitted to the General Prosecutor‘s Office. More than 4.000people and 300 legal entities were investigated for money laundering. Police initiated criminalinvestigations in more than 60 cases, and in 31 of these cases the persons charged were convictedof money laundering. Two convictions are final and there are 15 cases pending before court. Thepersons under investigation are mainly Romanian citizens (52%), but also Chinese (16%) andTurkish (7%). Also, joint teams of office experts and National Bank of Romania specialistsconducted 16 inquiries into several financial institutions and issued fines totaling RON 540million. 37MONEY LAUNDERING SITUATION IN BULGARIAWhile the situation in the former Yugoslavia has forced traffickers to shift routes, Bulgariacontinued to play a key role as a transit area for Southwest Asian heroin. Bulgaria's location onthe Balkans make it the most significant East European transit country. The difficulty ofinspecting the large number of bonded (TIR) trucks that transit the "Balkan route" increases35Art 3 of Law no.656/200236Art 3 of Law no.656/200237Moneyval Second Round Evaluation Report on RoumaniaMoney Laundering Best Practices,Lessons to be Learnt in the Balkan RegionWritten by Tamara BrneticPage 42 of 58
Page 1 and 2: Money Laundering Best Practices, Le
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTIONThere is a saying that
Page 5 and 6: Historically, money laundering beca
Page 7 and 8: promotion of the rule of law has to
Page 9 and 10: MONEYVALMoneyval was formerly known
Page 11 and 12: purchases. There were import/export
Page 13 and 14: Croatia has a preventive system est
Page 15 and 16: In a well known case which took pla
Page 17 and 18: Proceedings and Law on Office for P
Page 19 and 20: However, the Law does not provide f
Page 21 and 22: The last amendments of the Law on P
Page 23 and 24: Croatian Law on Prevention of Money
Page 25 and 26: duties they suspect that transactio
Page 27 and 28: Pursuant to Recommendation No 27, C
Page 29 and 30: the condition of reciprocity. Croat
Page 31 and 32: Croatia is in full compliance with
Page 33 and 34: there is no information on independ
Page 35 and 36: overwhelming model of creation of o
Page 37 and 38: Bosnia also has a wide spread probl
Page 39 and 40: On 19 November 2003, the Macedonian
Page 41: antiquities, theft of cargo of a ve
Page 45 and 46: abroad to the account of an offshor
Page 47 and 48: prostitution, trafficking in weapon
Page 49 and 50: PONZI’S SCHEMESOne of the very co
Page 51 and 52: foreign currency debt amounts to DM
Page 53 and 54: POSSIBILITIES FOR MONEY LAUNDERERS
Page 55 and 56: to launder monthly, so he starts to
Page 57 and 58: work abroad bring the money into th
Page 59: 24. http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.p

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