If the law fails, BiH will hardly recover from that blow!

The European Union Delegation and the Office of the EU Special Representative in BiH are very concerned about the non-adoption of the Bill on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, said for bh. news agency Patria (NAP), Andy McGuffie, spokesperson for the European Commission Delegation in BiH.

This extremely important law will be on the agenda of the Joint Defence and Security Committee of the BiH Parliament again this morning. And, if it does not pass, BiH, as we learn, will be exposed to sharp criticism at the Moneyval Committee session in the first week of April!

- An effective system for combating money laundering is a key preventive element in the fight against organized crime and terrorism. The importance of this issue is recognized internationally, and therefore there are international standards regarding it, especially the two Council of Europe conventions on tracing, temporary seizure and confiscation of proceeds of crime, the Third EU Directive, the UN Convention against the Financing of Terrorism, and especially the 40+9 Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – says McGuffie.

According to him, and in response to our question about the claims of Duška Majkić (SNSD) who opposes the adoption of this law, broad consultations were held during the drafting of the bill, and the working group included experts from all levels of government, including representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska and the Banking Agency of Republika Srpska.

- Entity Ministers of Internal Affairs and the BiH Minister of Security also discussed the bill. This bill was unanimously supported in the Council of Ministers. The European Union Delegation's position is that the bill is good, and as can be expected, certain adjustments can be made in the parliamentary procedure, through amendments. However, by not adopting such a law, BiH misses the opportunity to align its legislation with the EU acquis communautaire – says the spokesperson for the EU Delegation.

As he points out, the non-adoption of the Bill would have serious concrete consequences: BiH would not have an effective system for preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism, and the fulfillment of the state's obligations towards MONEYVAL and the IMF would be called into question.

- Furthermore, it is extremely important that BiH could be under significant financial pressure, e.g., banks and other financial institutions in BiH would face difficulties in transferring money worldwide. All money transactions in and out of BiH would be closely monitored by financial institutions of other countries, which would lead to serious delays in money transactions. For example, remittances from abroad would be delayed. At the same time, due to delays in money transactions, potential investors would seek other destinations for investment. Others would not even consider the possibility of investing in BiH, and it is difficult to recover from such a blow to the country's reputation – he points out.         

Responding to Majkić's claims, McGuffie says that the issue of BiH's representative in Moneyval should be considered a separate issue, not directly related to the adoption of the law itself.