On 28 March 2022, the Action against economic crime organised an online meeting with representatives of the Financial Intelligence Office, law enforcement authorities, as well as supervisors in order to initiate the process of assessing ML/FT risk related to the different types of legal persons and legal arrangements in the country. The aim of the opening meeting was to introduce national authorities to the approach to be applied in the risk assessment, the gathering of data and its analysis in order to assess the risk of misuse of legal persons for money laundering and terrorism financing purposes. The Action against economic crime will guide national authorities through the process of risk assessment of legal persons and legal arrangements by providing advice on the inherent risk associated with different types of legal entities, and the vulnerabilities linked to the registration procedure and oversight which make those legal entities particularly attractive for criminals. The conclusions on the level of risk will also take into account the complexity of corporate structures, the level of transparency of ownership and the availability and access to reliable information on the beneficial owners of legal entities.

This activity is organised and funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” phase II.