The project “Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Serbia” is supporting the Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering of the Republic of Serbia, in dissemination of the results of the latest ML/TF National Risk Assessment (NRA). To this end, the first in a series of workshops highlighting the NRA results and the follow-up action was organized within the Project in Belgrade on 23rd June 2022.

The first workshop gathered 35 representatives of the prosecution, judiciary, law enforcement and tax police to discuss the relevance of the NRA findings for the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

During the workshop, the participants received advice with regard to the development of AML/CFT policies incorporating and reflecting the key findings of the NRA. The NRA coordinators provided insight into the methodology used for the assessment, and the challenges in the development of the risk assessment, particularly in substantiating the risk scores with appropriate data and analysis.

Key risks and threats in the financial and non-financial sectors were presented, including in the growing sector of virtual asset services. The workshop particularly focused on the importance of developing capacities and dedicating resources of the law enforcement and judiciary in the processing and adjudicating of cases of financial crime, and confiscating the proceeds of crime in line with the major risks identified in the NRA.

The Project “Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Serbia” is funded by Sweden, represented by the Swedish International Development Agency and implemented by the Council of Europe.