TIRANA, Feb. 25 – Albania has been removed from the list of countries under continuous monitoring on money laundering and financing of terrorism, the Finance Ministry says citing a newly published report by Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) inter-governmental body.
In its October 2014 report, FATF described Albania as a country which has made significant progress to improve its regime of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
“Albania has substantially addressed its action plan at a technical level, including by establishing adequate customer due diligence provisions, establishing an adequate legal framework for identifying, tracing and freezing terrorist assets, and enhancing the framework for international co-operation,” said the report.
In early 2014, FATF had recommended Albania should continue addressing the remaining issues in its terrorist asset-freezing regime and enhance the framework for international co-operation related to terrorist financing.
Illicit financial outflows from Albania during the past decade are estimated at more than 1.2 billion dollars, according to a study published by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based research and advocacy organization.
The report shows some USD 63 million flowed out of Albania in crime, corruption and tax evasion in 2012, the lowest level in the past four years.
Total financial outflows from 2003 to 2012 are estimated at around 1.27 billion dollars, says the report.
A record US$991.2 billion in illicit capital flowed out of developing and emerging economies in 2012—facilitating crime, corruption, and tax evasion—according to the latest study released GFI.
