RS will isolate BiH by blocking laws and slow down all remittances from abroad!

Republika Srpska is putting Bosnia and Herzegovina on the list of countries that do not respect international standards in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, like Iran or North Korea, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

Bosnia and Herzegovina ending up on such a list would have catastrophic consequences for the entire country, including slowing down and preventing remittances from abroad and blocking foreign investors, NAP has learned.

Namely, unnamed officials from the European Union Delegation in Sarajevo warned that this could be, among other things, the consequence of not adopting the new Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorist Activities in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 European diplomats are extremely concerned because the law was already rejected once, by the votes of the representatives of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) in the Joint Committee on Defense and Security of the BiH Parliament. If this happens again, it will mean that the process has failed and that BiH is entering a dangerous zone.

- International organizations for monitoring the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing are following events in BiH. The non-adoption of this law, which would strengthen the capacities of the Financial Intelligence Department of SIPA, would mean that BiH does not respect either international or its own obligations, and it also jeopardizes the arrangement with the International Monetary Fund – diplomats state.

As stated for NAP, if BiH suspends progress in harmonizing preventive legislation in this regard, international institutions will send a notice to countries to be particularly cautious during financial transactions with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Banks and other institutions will then conduct additional checks for all transactions, or may even suspend some. This is a terribly bad image for a country that wants to become a member of the European Union – say from the EU Delegation. They clarify that there are no additional transfers of competencies to the state level here, and note that all participants, including RS, gave the green light during the preparation of the law. Now they do not understand why the law is being rejected in the BiH Parliament.