Bulgaria was placed on Friday on the “grey list” of countries subject to “enhanced surveillance” by the anti-money laundering organization, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), while four other countries, including Panama and the Cayman Islands were removed, according to a press release.
Albania and Jordan were also removed from this list.
Bulgaria joins 22 other jurisdictions on the “grey list”. This points out their “strategic deficiencies in their combat regimes” against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but also notes that they “actively work” with the organization to remediate.
More than 200 countries and jurisdictions have committed to implementing the FATF standards.
The FATF is working with “grey list” countries on their progress in addressing money laundering and terrorist financing issues and “calls on these jurisdictions to complete their action plans promptly and within agreed deadlines,” according to approved documents at the end of a plenary meeting in Paris.
The FATF has not modified its “black list” of countries with “serious strategic deficiencies”, but calls on its members, “in the most serious cases, (…) to apply countermeasures to protect the system international financial institution against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of nuclear proliferation.
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