Presentation of NRA findings in Kraljevo
On 17 May 2019 an infosession was held with representatives of judiciary and the police, where in direct communication NRA findings were presented. The infosession was held within the Project on enhancing the quality and efficiency of suspicious transactions reporting (STR) and Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering (APML) core functions, which is financed by the EU and whose main beneficiary is the Ministry of Finance - Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering. This Project is implemented by a consortium led by KPMG and the event was organized with the assistance of Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia.
The goal of NRA is to draw conclusions on what sectors and actions within a system of a country carry potentially higher ML/TF risk, and what sectors and actions carry a lower risk, so that the country could adequately address them through a set of measures and activities and make adequate decisions as to the allocation of risk in line with the assessment, with the intention to invest more efforts and resources into high-risk areas. Money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment was adopted by the Government on 31 May 2018, and the Action Plan for the implementation of NRA was adopted by the Government on 12 July 2018. A coordination body established a Working Group for ML/TF NRA, the task of which was to review and re-assess the risks identified in 2012 NRA, in line with the World Bank Methodology.
At the event in Kraljevo, NRA was presented by National Risk Coordinator Jelena Pantelić and working group coordinators - representatives of the Republic Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Justice, National Bank of Serbia, Securities Commission, APML. In addition to NRA presentation, Justice Radmila Dragičević Dičić of Supreme Court of Cassation, also a member of the AML/CFT Coordination Body, emphasised certain issues related to sanctioning policy and ML cases, as well as presenting examples of good practice by courts.
The participants of this infosession have been well aware of FATF Recommendation no. 1 and of the importance of the implementation of assessed risks in everyday work of all relevant AML/CFT stakeholders. In addition to this, results and findings from this strategic document have ben presented, and the participants have learnt of ML threats, where the vulnerability of the system lied and what the national combating ability was.
The participants were able to have their dilemmas clarified through the exchange of opinions, which was the objective of this outreach activity. To enure the risks are presented and understood properly, after the infosessions in Belgrade and Kraljevo, next sessions will be held in Niš (24 May) and Novi Sad (12 June).
