A day after the Council of Europe returned Albania to the list of “gray zone” countries in the fight against money laundering, the Finance Minister Anila Denaj said that the main agencies responsible for this negative assessment were the prosecution and the courts.
“If you read the Monevayl report and recommendations, it is clear that the most fundamental shortcomings come entirely from agencies outside the executive government, especially the courts and the prosecution”, stated Denaj, adding that the government has increased the number of money laundering cases investigated, but the prosecution and courts did not seize the money.
Albania’s return to the list of problematic money laundering countries was announced in 2018, following a report which classified the country at high risk of money laundering activities. The Moneyval committee gave the Albanian government a year’s time to react, but the measures taken during this time did not convince the Council of Europe, which yesterday decided to put Albania on the gray unsafe countries list.
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