prijava
SARAJEVO, March 3 (FENA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet passed a new law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, nor has it established a real property register in accordance with international and Council of Europe and FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards, and therefore risks being included in the so-called Moneyval's "black list".
This was highlighted today at a round table entitled "Real Property in BiH - Legal Framework and Implementation", organized by Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH) in Sarajevo.
President of the Management Board of TIBiH, Srđan Blagovčanin, pointed out that the issue of determining real ownership, above all, over business entities - companies and enterprises, has reached the very top of the anti-corruption agenda in BiH.
“The key problem is that the register of real ownership has not yet been established in BiH, i.e. the register of those persons / entities that stand and realize the ultimate benefit from companies,” Blagovčanin said in a statement for the media.
He added that this leaves a wide space for people involved in corrupt / illegal activities, as this area is not regulated in accordance with international standards, and especially with European Union (EU) legislation, which is BiH according to the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) is obliged to do so, including the obligations contained in the Directives governing the prevention of money laundering.
Deputy Minister of Justice of BiH, Nezir Pivić, also pointed out the importance of regulating the area of real property, the legal framework and its implementation, reminding that BiH has so far been released from two years of reporting on Moneyval.
However, he warned that a re-evaluation would follow in 2023, and that by then BiH was obliged to adopt a new law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, and that in that sense the most important issue was the establishment of a real property register.
(FENA) A. B.
