This is the conclusion reached by experts following an assessment of the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism for 2020-2025. They recommend that the authorities strengthen inter-agency cooperation to prevent money laundering schemes.
According to expert Sergiu Ostafa, who presented the results of the analysis, the liberalized professions, according to national risk assessments and the data obtained, have a number of vulnerabilities that allow the sector to be exploited for money laundering.
“This is a complex area that requires unconditional reinforcement. The various IT platforms, especially those using artificial intelligence, reflect the cross-sectoral nature of this phenomenon: money laundering is not concentrated in one sector. The schemes we describe – and there are more than 50-60 of them, from small amounts to large ones, using different sectors – are extremely difficult to identify and assess without close inter-institutional cooperation,” the expert noted.
He also emphasized that the level of sophistication of the schemes increasingly penetrates deeper into vulnerable and less structured areas that are actively used for illicit financial transactions.
In general, he said, the level of risks in Moldova in terms of money laundering remains high.
“The risks are numerous. We have more risks than other countries. Compared to Romania, the pressure of risks is much higher and the vulnerabilities are significantly more,” the expert said.
He paid special attention to the financing of the strategy. The expert emphasized that due to the lack of resources, the quality of actions to implement the document suffers:
“The budget calculated within the framework of the academic exercise is extremely modest – 5-6 times less than the real budget of similar programs in European countries, and amounts to about 20 million lei for the entire implementation period. Despite this, tangible results have been achieved, largely due to the efficiency of implementation. In the future, the budget should be clearly targeted”.
