September 11 (SeeNews) - The anti-money laundering body of the Council of Europe, Moneyval, said on Wednesday that Moldovan authorities need to fully and consistently use the legislative framework in order to combat money laundering.
Moldova should also increase the effectiveness of confiscation of proceeds, in particular regarding extended confiscation, the Council of Europe said in a press release, citing findings of the Fifth Round Mutual Evaluation Report on Moldova's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures.
According to Moneyval, Moldova faces various money laundering threats mainly deriving from corruption, tax evasion and smuggling committed internally and drugs trafficking and human trafficking for crimes committed outside of the country.
A wide spectrum of money laundering investigations and prosecutions are conducted, but only a limited number of investigations led to prosecutions, it added.
According to the report, Moldova has not made any targeted financial sanctions designation pursuant the United Nations Security Council resolutions and has not requested other countries to give effect to the actions initiated under freezing mechanisms, as there were no cases which would meet the designation criteria.
"Moneyval acknowledges that Moldova has a sound legal and procedural framework for exchanging information with foreign partners in a comprehensive, proactive and timely manner, both upon request and spontaneously, and in line with its risk profile," the Coincil of Europe said. "Based on the results of its evaluation, Moneyval decided to apply its enhanced follow-up procedure and invited Moldova to report back in 2021."