12th February 2020, Brussels – Commenting on an announcement by the European Commission that they have put Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain on formal notice over implementation of the EU’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Tina Mlinaric, Campaigner at Global Witness, said:
“We are very encouraged to see the European Commission taking legal action against states that have not shown significant activity on this important defence against money laundering. Consecutive EU wide money laundering scandals have shown just how vulnerable Europe is to dirty money and why urgent attention to this problem is so necessary. We hope that taking this action so soon after the deadline for states to have implemented 5AMLD is a sign of how serious the Commission is taking this.”
“But tracking which Member States adopted national laws to implement 5AMLD obligations is just the first step. To shut the door to dirty money into the EU the Commission must show the same level of scrutiny over how these laws are implemented in practice.”
/ ENDS
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