Legal warnings have been sent to Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain over delays in turning anti-money laundering rules into national laws, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
The 27 EU states adopted the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive in 2018 and had to implement the rules to counter dirty-money risks in a wide range of sectors, including cryptocurrency exchanges, prepaid cards and shell companies, by 10 January 2020.
The time of the Commission’s letters of formal notice coincided with the publication of a report by the Council’s of Europe anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL that assessed the effectiveness of Cyprus’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) system.
MONEYVAL called on the Cypriot authorities to pursue more aggressively money laundering from criminal proceeds generated outside of Cyprus, and take a more proactive approach to the freezing and confiscation of foreign proceeds.
Cyprus, Portugal among states rebuked by EU over delays in money-laundering reforms
EPA/KATIA CHRISTODOULOU
A man walks outside Central Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia, Cyprus, 25 June 2012. The government informed on 25 June 2012, the appropriate European Authorities of its decision to submit to euro area member states a request of financial assistance from the EFSF/ESM.
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