Money Laundering Prevention – a priority for Romanian institutions

Transparency International Romania organized on Tuesday, 14th of May 2024, a round-table having as the main topic of debate: the implementation level of the MONEYVAL recommendations received as a result of the Evaluation Report regarding Romania.

A year after the approving of the Evaluation Report regarding Romania, Transparency International Romania brought together the most important institutions, in order to discuss the manner in which the MONEYVAL recommendations were applied, to debate the challenges met, remedial solutions and effective collaboration methods.

The event brought together the highest-level representatives from key institutions involved in combating money laundering, such as:  National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering; National Anticorruption Directorate; the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority; National Integrity Agency; also representatives from Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Finance; National Trade Register Office; National Agency of Fiscal Administration; Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism; Romanian Association of Banks; Association for Cooperation and Sustainable Development; Deloitte; The National Association of Romanian Bars.

A key topic of the discussion was the need of constant dialogue and inter-institutional cooperation, including regarding the development and approval of a national strategy for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorism financing. President of the National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, Adrian Cucu, informed the participants that a first draft of the national strategy was elaborated within an inter-ministerial group formed at the beginning of this year, the next step being that the document will be subjected to a wide consultation. It was highlighted the need of proper inter-institutional cooperation and the need of a continuous improvement of the dialogue between the public and private sectors.

Through its representatives, Transparency International Romania stated once again, as a well-known think-thank on integrity and anti-corruption, the will to be actively involved, including by participating in working sessions, partnerships, sharing with the participants guidelines and good practices on relevant topics, documents elaborated within the global anti-corruption movement – Transparency International.

Romania is a member of the MONEYVAL Committee of the Council of Europe since 1999, the year when the first normative act in the field of preventing and combating money laundering was adopted at the national level, Law no. 21 / 1999 and the National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering was established.