Bulgaria faces an uphill battle to avoid inclusion on a global watchlist of countries with weak anti-money laundering regimes after an intergovernmental group concluded that the country's defenses against financial crime are failing in every regard. In a 352-page mutual evaluation report, Moneyval, the Financial Action Task Force's representative in Europe, praised Bulgaria on Monday for conducting a "comprehensive" national financial-crime risk assessment but otherwise flagged widespread holes in the Balkan nation's AML rulebook and how the rules are applied in practice. Bulgarian authorities fail to use financial intelligence effectively and often have no idea who beneficially owns legal entities...
The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism assessed Bulgaria's compliance efforts with its anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing obligations.
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