European terrorist finance tracking system options proposed

The same day that Bulgaria approved amendments to a law requiring accountants and enforcement agents to report to the State Agency for National Security any attempts at or conduct of an operation or transaction suspicious of terrorist financing, the European Commission unveiled its proposals for a European Terrorist Finance Tracking System (TFTS).

The Commission said on July 13 2011 that it was issuing the proposals in response to a call from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

The proposals, the Commission said, represented an initial response to the request to prepare a legal and technical framework for establishing such a system within the European Union.

Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, said: "Following the conclusion of the EU-US TFTP Agreement the European Parliament and the Council have asked the Commission to find a European solution for extracting the requested data on European soil.

"Today's Communication describes the different possible options and seeks to trigger a debate about possible future proposals. Given that these future proposals would need to fully respect fundamental rights, and in particular ensure a high level of data protection, I intend to pay close attention to the necessity and proportionality of any possible measures which may be proposed".

A European TFTS should have two main objectives, the Commission said.

First, the system must contribute to limiting the amount of personal data transferred to the United States. Second, it should contribute significantly to efforts to cut off terrorists' access to funding and materials and follow their transactions.

The Communication gives clear indications about the key issues which need to be decided upon before such a system can be established, the Commission said.

These include the need to fully respect the fundamental rights of European citizens, data protection and data security issues, the operational scope of the system, as well as costs.

"Today's communication presents the different options under consideration at this stage without indicating any preferred one," the Commission said.

The European Commission will now discuss these options in detail with the European Council and the European Parliament before deciding on further steps on the basis of a thorough impact assessment.

In Bulgaria, amendments to the Measures against Terrorist Financing Act, approved conclusively on July 13, require accountants and enforcement agents to report to the State Agency for National Security (SANS) any attempts at or conduct of an operation or transaction suspected of being terrorist financing.

Assets suspected of being connected to or used for terrorist acts or by terrorist organisations and terrorists must also be reported to the SANS Financial Intelligence Agency, news agency BTA said.

Source: The Sofia Echo

Bulgarian football's 'mafia links' exposed in cables

Some of Bulgaria's most popular football clubs have ties with mafia bosses, who use them to launder money, according to a US diplomatic document revealed by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

"Bulgarian soccer clubs are widely believed to be directly or indirectly controlled by organised crime figures who use their teams as a way to legitimise themselves, launder money, or make a fast buck," a January 2010 cable from the US embassy in Sofia to Washington noted.

Details of the cable, which handed Bulgarian football "a red card for corruption", were published Monday on the website of the Spanish daily El Pais.

"Nearly all of the teams are owned or have been connected to organised crime figures," the cable's author, current US deputy chief of mission to Sofia Susan Sutton, wrote.

A "sampling of the most well-known connections" compiled by Sutton included some of Bulgaria's most popular first league clubs, such as Levski Sofia, CSKA Sofia, Litex Lovech, Slavia Sofia, Cherno more Varna, Lokomotiv Sofia and Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

An alleged arms dealer, a proxy to a notorious Russian businessman and three assassinated crime bosses were among the team owners listed in the cable.

As a result, "allegations of illegal gambling, match fixing, money laundering, and tax evasion plague the league", the cable found.

Sutton cited the example of one club owner who allegedly bet against his own team to pay back debts, as well as recent tax administration findings that most players received, at least on paper, the Bulgarian minimum wage of 240 leva (120 euros, 170 dollars) per month -- although in some cases their actual pay was at least 70 times higher.

The document concluded that a successful operation to sever the mafia's links to football would be "a public relations coup" for Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, whom it described as a "soccer fanatic".

Source: Bangkok Post

Two Foreign Nationals Sentenced for Roles in International Money Laundering Scheme Involving Online Sales

Two Bulgarian nationals have been sentenced in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for their roles as money launderers for a transnational criminal group based in Eastern Europe, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

Ivaylo Vasilev Pletnyov, 39, of Svishtov, Bulgaria, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Pletnyov was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term and was ordered to pay $306,502 in restitution. Pletnyov pleaded guilty on Jan. 15, 2009.

Nikolay Georgiev Minchev, 45, of Sofia, Bulgaria, was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Minchev was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term and was ordered to pay $270,444 in restitution. Minchev pleaded guilty on Sept. 21, 2008.

According to court documents, from approximately July 2005 through May 2006, Pletnyov and Minchev participated in a scheme to post advertisements on eBay and other web sites, fraudulently offering expensive vehicles and boats for sale that they did not possess. When the U.S. victims expressed interest in the merchandise, they were contacted directly by an e-mail from a purported seller. The victims were then instructed to wire transfer payments through "eBay Secure Traders"--an entity which has no actual affiliation to eBay but was used as a ruse to persuade the victims that they were sending money into a secure escrow account pending delivery and inspection of their purchases. Instead, the victims' funds were wired directly into bank accounts in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Greece that were controlled by Pletnyov, Minchev and their co-conspirators. According to court documents, in less than one year, the criminal conspiracy netted more than $1.2 million from U.S. victims.

Pletnyov and Minchev were originally charged on Jan. 9, 2008, along with four additional defendants: Roman Teodor, Georgi Vasilev Pletnyov, Georgi Boychev Georgiev and Antoaneta Angelova Getova. The United States continues to work with foreign counterparts in Romania and Poland regarding the remaining defendants. An indictment is merely an accusation and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI - Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation (HNBI) Organized Crime Task Force located in Budapest, Hungary (Budapest Task Force). The Budapest Task Force was established by the FBI in April 2000 in an effort to address the increasing threat of Eurasian organized crime groups to the United States. Its objective was to develop cooperation with law enforcement in Central/Eastern Europe, and to identify transnational cases with a nexus to the United States.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Lisa Page of the Criminal Division's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. The Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance on this case.

SOURCE: PRNewsWire

US: Bulgaria’s Financial Intelligence remained vigilant against terrorist financing

FOCUS News - Bulgaria’s Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) remained vigilant against terrorist financing and cooperated with the United States on identifying and investigating terrorist assets, a report on terrorism, issued by the US Department of state reads. The report continues:

‘The FIA regularly distributed lists of individuals and organizations linked to terrorism to all banks in Bulgaria, the Ministry of Interior, Customs, and the Border Police. The FIA was active in efforts against all mandated UNSCR-designated terrorists and terrorist organizations, and cooperated on USG-designated individuals and organizations. The FIA advised the banking sector to use the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) website as a reliable information resource for individuals and organizations associated with terrorism. The FIA provided feedback, including information on the response level of Bulgaria's banks, to the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN).’

‘In 2006, the Bulgarian Parliament passed amendments that further strengthened the FIA's investigative powers, enabling it to obtain bank information without a court order or a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR). In late 2007, as part of legislation creating the new State Agency for National Security (DANS), the FIA was transferred from the Finance Ministry to DANS. The legislation lacked clarity on the independent and investigatory powers of the FIA, potentially complicating its Egmont compliance and undermining its ability to execute its mission and uphold its international commitments. Aware of the issue, Bulgarian officials were considering additional legislative and regulatory measures at year’s end.’

‘In December, the Bulgarian parliament adopted the State Agency for National Security Act, under which DANS will consist of four chief directorates: Internal Security, Counterintelligence, Technical Operations, and Economic and Financial Security. It will split off the current National Security Service from the Interior Ministry, Military Counterintelligence from the Defense Ministry, and the Financial Intelligence Agency from the Finance Ministry. These services will be incorporated into DANS. The new agency will exercise control over the stay of foreigners in Bulgaria, which was previously handled by the National Security Service.

Bulgaria signed and ratified the Council of Europe’s new Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism in 2006, which entered into force on June 1, 2007. Bulgaria’s religious leaders, including leaders of the nation's Muslim community, spoke out strongly against terrorism.’, the report states.

http://www.amlosphere.com/america/cft/us-bulgaria-s-financial-intelligence-remained-vigilant-against-terrorist-financing.html

International money laundering group busted

Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security, Prosecutor’s Office and foreign specialized services have busted an international organized criminal group dealing with money laundering, Roman Vasilev, deputy prosecutor in Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, said at a press conference, cited by Focus News Agency.

The gang is connected with a cross border channel for laundering money illegally obtained in Bulgaria. The scheme includes a series of companies registered in different jurisdictions, which transformed financial resources worldwide. Two foreign citizens have been detained in operations carried out in Bulgaria and abroad. They are the real organizers of the criminal group for transferring and legalizing the resources. Bulgaria was a transit point. Financial institutions in Bulgaria were also involved.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n141360

Bulgarian Money Laundering Crime Ring Broken in Florida

21 June 2007, Thursday

A Bulgarian crime ring, which laundered money in the state of Florida, was broken by FBI, the US Resident Financial Enforcement Advisor for Bulgaria James Springer reported.

The Commission of Criminal Assets Confiscation has also helped the raid.

The criminals invested all the money in the construction of new hotels on the Black Sea coast.

Expert Springer did not reveal further details on the detainees' identity and the names of their hotels.

It emerged that the properties concerned have already been attached.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=82131

Bulgarian Football Club Owner Charged with Money Laundering, Human Trafficking

Prosecutors indicted Monday the owner of Bulgaria's football club Spartak - Varna, Ivan Slavkov, for money laundering and human trafficking.

Slavkov, who is a councilor from the Turkish Ethnic Party in the municipal council in the seaside city of Varna, was also charged with drugs possession and incitement to prostitution.

The announcement was made by the defendant's lawyer Branimir Balachev in an interview for Darik Radio.

"Slavkov is in poor health condition but doctors declared he could be on life support while in custody," Balachev explained.

The municipal councilor will be put behind bars for 72 hours immediately after being discharged from the hospital he is currently taken to.

Source: Novinite

International Arms Dealer Extradited on Terrorism Offenses

U.S. Department of Justice

**Verbatim

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 13, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

NEW YORK- Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced that international arms dealer Monzer Al Kassar, a/k/a Abu Munawar, a/k/a El Taous, arrived in New York today after being extradited from Spain on federal terrorism charges. Al Kassar was extradited to New York for his participation in a conspiracy to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the FARC) -- a designated foreign terrorist organization -- to be used to kill Americans in Colombia. Al Kassar’s co-defendants, Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, were both previously extradited to New York from Romania to face the same terrorism charges. According to the superseding Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:

Since the early 1970s, Al Kassar has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed factions engaged in violent conflicts around the world. Some of these factions have included known terrorist organizations, such as the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF), the goals of which included attacking United States interests and United States nationals.

To carry out his weapons-trafficking business, Al Kassar developed an international network of criminal associates, including co-defendants Al Ghazi and Moreno Godoy, as well as front companies and bank accounts in various countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania. Additionally, Al Kassar has engaged in money-laundering transactions in bank accounts throughout the world to disguise the illicit nature of his criminal proceeds.

Between February 2006 and May 2007, Al Kassar agreed to sell to the FARC millions of dollars worth of weapons, including thousands of machine guns, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs), and surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs). During a series of recorded telephone calls, e-mails, and in-person meetings, Al Kassar agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA (the CSs), who represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack United States helicopters in Colombia.

During their consensually-recorded meetings, Al Kassar provided the CSs with, among other things: (1) a schematic of the vessel to be used to transport the weapons; (2) specifications for the SAMs he agreed to sell to the FARC; and (3) bank accounts in Spain and Lebanon that were ultimately used to receive and conceal more than $400,000 sent from DEA undercover accounts that the CSs represented were FARC drug proceeds for the weapons deal. During his meetings with the CSs, Al Kassar reviewed Nicaraguan end-user certificates that he accepted despite knowing that the arms were destined for the FARC in Colombia. Al Kassar also promised to provide the FARC with ton-quantities of C-4 explosives, as well as expert trainers from Lebanon to teach the FARC how to effectively use C-4 and improvised explosive devices (commonly referred to as IEDs). In addition, Al Kassar offered to send a thousand men to fight with the FARC against United States military officers in Colombia.

The Indictment charges Al Kassar with four separate terrorism offenses:

Count One: Conspiracy to kill United States nationals, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332(b);

Count Two: Conspiracy to kill United States officers or employees, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1114 and 1117;

Count Three: Conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332g; and

Count Four: Conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in violation of Title 18,

United States Code, Section 2339B.

In addition, Al Kassar is charged in Count Five with money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956.

The superseding Indictment seeks the forfeiture of an estate located in Marbella, Spain, and all funds contained in three separate bank accounts. The forfeitures represent the alleged proceeds obtained from the charged offenses.

Al Kassar is expected to appear later this afternoon in Magistrate court in Manhattan federal court.

If convicted of Counts One through Three, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of any term of years or life imprisonment, as well as a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on Count Three. As part of the extradition process, however, the United States has provided assurances to the government of Spain that it will not seek a life sentence for Al Kassar, but instead will ask for a prison term of years. If convicted of Count Four, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment. Finally, if convicted of Count Five, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.

The international law enforcement operation that culminated with today’s extradition was the result of cooperation between the DEA, the Spanish National Police, and the Romanian Border Police.

Mr. Garcia praised the investigative efforts of the DEA, the Spanish National Police, and the Romanian Border Police. Mr. Garcia also thanked the United States Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. State Department.

"Monzer Al Kassar intended to provide millions of dollars worth of lethal weapons to a foreign terrorist organization to be used to kill Americans," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia. "As a result of extraordinary cooperation with our international law enforcement partners, Al Kassar will now face justice for his crimes in a United States courtroom."

"The arrest, extradition and pending criminal prosecution of Monzer Al Kassar before a U.S. Court of justice are a testament to DEA's global alliances and unique investigative skills," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "Al Kassar's days of arming and funding global terrorists are over. Spanish authorities are to be commended for their diligence and perseverance to ensure Al Kassar's extradition to the United States."

Assistant United States Attorneys Boyd M. Johnson III, Leslie C. Brown, and Brendan R. McGuire are in charge of the prosecutions.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The US reports on Bulgaria’s readiness to fight terrorism - report

The creation of State Agency for National Security (SANS) is the key point in the US State Department Country Reports on Terrorism in its section on Bulgaria. The report was published on April 30 2008.

The report’s main concern is how efficient the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) would be under the control of SANS, which started work in January 2008.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev presented his idea about SANS in May 2007 as his response to high public expectations of a successful fight against organized crime.

In late 2007, as part of legislation that created SANS, the FIA was transferred from the Finance Ministry to SANS the US report said.

“The legislation lacked clarity on the independent and investigatory powers of the FIA, potentially complicating its Egmont compliance and undermining its ability to execute its mission and uphold its international commitments. Aware of the issue, Bulgarian officials were considering additional legislative and regulatory measures at year’s end.”

As in previous years, the US stated its support for the work of FIA in 2007.

“FIA remained vigilant against terrorist financing and cooperated with the US on identifying and investigating terrorist assets. The FIA was active in efforts against all mandated UNSCR-designated terrorists and terrorist organizations, and cooperated on USG-designated individuals and organizations.

FIA provided feedback, including information on the response level of Bulgaria's banks, to the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN).

In 2006, the Bulgarian Parliament passed amendments that further strengthened the FIA's investigative powers, enabling it to obtain bank information without a court order or a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR).

The report acknowledged the behavior of Bulgaria’s religious leaders who “spoke out strongly against terrorism”.

In general the report was positive about Bulgaria’s contribution in the fight against terrorism. “The Bulgarian government continued its high level of cooperation with the US in preventing acts of terrorism against US citizens in Bulgaria and elsewhere”.

On April 25 2008 a new US department of justice (USDOJ) report cited Bulgaria as an example of how international organised criminals corrupt and seek to corrupt public officials in the US and abroad.

Bulgaria’s name featured as the example of “Threat 7: International organised criminals corrupt and seek to corrupt public officials in the United States and abroad”.

http://www.amlosphere.com/europe/aml/the-us-reports-on-bulgaria-s-readiness-to-fight-terrorism-report.html

Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia Sign Agreement on Combating Organized Crime

Bulgarian Interior Minister Mihail Mikov, his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic and Romanian interior minister Christian David have signed an agreement between the three countries on co-operation against organised crime, including a focus on countering trafficking in drugs and cigarettes and providing for joint anti-terrorist training.

The agreement was signed in Belgrade on September 29 2008.

Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported Dacic as saying that trafficking in drugs and cigarettes was one of the worst problems on the Bulgaria-Serbia border.

The Bulgarian side suggested measures to ease the system of crossing the Bulgaria-Serbia border.

The three ministers discussed the possibility of setting up a regional rapid reaction centre to deal with natural disasters. Mikov said that the proposal had been co-ordinated with the European Commission.

According to a media statement by the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, the agreement says that the three countries are concerned about the serious proportions that crime has reached in recent years at national and international level, which constitutes a serious threat to internal security and stability in the Balkans.

For this reason, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia agreed on co-operation in prevention, detection and investigation of organised crime, and against serious crimes against persons, cross-border crime, terrorist acts, production and trafficking of drugs and weapons, and people trafficking.

The three countries will co-operate in preventing illegal economic activities, suspicious transactions, money laundering, smuggling, sexual exploitation, counterfeiting money, documents and trademarks. They will unite their efforts against cyber-crime, corruption
and extortion, the agreement said.

The interior ministries will exchange information, experience and expertise in combating transnational crime.

Speaking at a news conference after the signing, Dacic said: “We have to show in the short term that the Balkans may themselves define and pursue their priorities”.

Source: Sofia Echo

EU: Bulgaria, Romania Still Too Corrupt

A new report from the European Commission notes progress but still finds too much organized crime and corruption in the two new member states

When Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in 2007, other member states expressed serious concern about the high level of corruption in both of the former communist states, and, in Bulgaria, about the political power wielded by violent criminal gangs operating there. Now, some 30 months after joining the union, widespread fraud, corruption, and organized crime remain problematic according to new European Union reports that openly question the will of political leaders to implement reforms to tackle these problems.

The latest progress reports on the justice system and fight against corruption, released on 22 July, come as a serious if not unexpected blow to Bulgaria and Romania – which suffer from the public perception they were accepted into the EU club too early – but also to EU candidate countries where accession talks have stalled, such as Croatia and perennial hopeful Turkey.

PLAY OR PAY

While noting Bulgaria's and Romania's progress in key areas, the European Commission, as in previous reports since 2007, listed an array of ills, among them inadequate measures to fight money-laundering and killings linked to organized crime. In total, the reports named 21 areas in which Bulgaria needs to improve its performance, and 16 for Romania, including the implementation of anti-corruption laws and boosting the judicial independence.

"The reform momentum that has been established now needs to be backed up by a national political consensus involving all political parties and institutions, and more convincing delivery of results," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement. "Citizens in both countries and across the rest of Europe must feel that no one is above the law. I hope that the two governments will move quickly to implement the concrete recommendations for reform that the Commission has put forward."

The commission last year froze around 500 million euros in subsidies earmarked to help the Bulgarian economy and threatened to sanction Romania as well over exactly the same kinds of failings outlined in this week's reports.

This time the commission decided not to advise other member states to stop cooperation with Bulgaria and Romania on judicial issues, an option known as the "safeguard clause" in the two countries' accession agreements. Brussels also stopped short of saying that the shortcomings could imperil the countries' attempts to join the border-free Schengen area in 2011.

But the commission will extend into 2010 the monitoring system, known as the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, with the next progress report due in a year's time. That extension is a political embarrassment for Sofia and Bucharest – and a wake-up call for Croatia to also get its house in order. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn noted that Zagreb is also lagging in "key areas such as judicial and administrative reform, the fight against corruption, and organized crime."

BIG JOB FOR NEW BULGARIAN LEADER

Whether this will instill a need to fast-track reforms remains to be seen. Indeed, the commission – which has already barred two Bulgarian government agencies from handling EU funds – said in its latest report that while Sofia no longer is denying that organized crime and corruption are widespread, the political will to do something about it is not yet evident.

"In the public perception in Bulgaria justice is too slow" and is "subject to influence and interference," Johannes Leitenberger, chief spokesperson for the commission, told reporters in Brussels, as cited by EUobserver.com. "There are still shortcomings which need to be urgently addressed by the newly elected Bulgarian government."

The commission released the latest judicial and crime monitoring reports days before the scheduled swearing-in of Bulgaria's incoming prime minister, Boyko Borisov, the Sofia mayor and a former Interior Ministry official who won elections this month on an anti-corruption platform. His party GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) also pledged to go after former government officials suspected of graft and has promised to implement the commission's demands.

If Borisov talks tough, he may well have the background and political muscle to back up his words. The private security company he founded helped protect Bulgaria's deposed last communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, and on the other side of the political spectrum, Simeon Saxecoburggotski, the deposed monarch who returned from exile and served as premier from 2001 until 2005.

MILD PRAISE FOR BUCHAREST

Romania – criticized for its fragmented and politicized approach to reform – did earn praise for the work of its anti-corruption directorate. Organized crime is also seen as far less of a problem than in Bulgaria. According to the commission, the country's criminal and civil codes, while updated, have not been fully or systematically revised, leading to a "patchwork" of ad hoc legislation that risks compromising anti-corruption efforts.

In Romania, "reform efforts remain fragmented, they have not yet taken firmly root and must still produce practical results," the commission stated. "Overall, a broad based political consensus behind reform and an unequivocal commitment across political parties to real progress has still to be demonstrated." And while prosecutors in Romania have accused almost 20 cabinet ministers and former ministers of corruption since the country's accession to the bloc in 2007, not one has been convicted.

Opinion polls show EU citizens have grown more wary of bringing new countries into the bloc since the "early admission" of Bulgaria and Romania – and the perception of lawlessness in the region is a factor. But without the "carrot" of that qualified (i.e. monitored) membership and the "stick" of sanctions, the wheels of judicial reform in these countries would have turned far slower. The message to EU candidates Croatia, Turkey, and Macedonia and those waiting in the wings (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Albania) is to raise the bar – accelerate reforms – ahead of entry or formal accession talks.

Likewise, if Brussels should renege on the promise of future membership to the Balkans it could destabilize an already volatile region, right on the EU border. In that regard, Enlargement Commissioner Rehn was right this month to propose offering visa-free travel for citizens of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro from 1 January 2010, in an effort to bring these countries closer to the bloc even as Brussels pushes for faster political, judicial, and economic progress.

Source: BusinessWeek

Europol: Bulgaria Has Key Role in Synthetic Drugs Trafficking

The traffic of heroin is the main criminal activity in the so-called South East criminal hub in Europe, according to the Europol Report.

Europol, or the European Police Office, released their Europol Organized Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA) in which the criminal activities on the old continent are divided in five hubs where the hub is a conceptual entity that is generated by a combination of factors such as proximity to major destination markets, geographic location, infrastructure, types of organized crime groups and migration processes concerning key criminals or organized crime groups in general.

The OCTA is an assessment of current and expected trends in organized crime affecting the EU and its citizens. Based on analysis Europol assess that the most significant criminal sectors now are drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal immigration, fraud, counterfeiting and money laundering.

Bulgaria falls within the South East hub where the “Balkan route” from Turkey to the EU is used for heroin traffic by Turkish criminals, often in cooperation with Bulgarian crime groups.

“The South East criminal hub is based upon its geographical location between Asia and Europe. Logistically, the importance of the Black Sea and related waterways define the hub and will create opportunities for both legal trade and organized crime. Opiates reach Europe through the Balkan routes and the Northern Black Sea route across Central Asia and Russia. The significance of the port of Constanta in cocaine traffic is growing, and cocaine seems to be increasingly arriving into the EU via Turkey and/or the Balkans. This may also be the effect of the already well-established role of West Africa as a transit zone,” the report reads.

Bulgarians and Serbians also play key role in the traffic of synthetic drugs to the Middle East. Nigerian criminal groups, residing in Bulgaria, are in constant touch with such Nigerian groups in Italy providing cocaine for the Italian market, Europol notes.

In addition to synthetic drugs Bulgaria plays a key role in the distribution of counterfeit EUR bills and fake bank debit and credit cards.

The Southeastern hub is also very active in cigarettes contraband from the Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. In addition, the Ukraine is a transit center for cocaine, human trafficking and illegal immigrants through Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Monte Negro and Macedonia to the EU.

The other hubs are:

1) The North West criminal hub. It is a distribution centre for heroin, cocaine, synthetic drugs and cannabis products. Its influence extends to the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.

2) The South West criminal hub. The impact of this market is felt especially in the criminal markets of cocaine, cannabis, trafficking in human beings and illegal immigration. West and North West Africa as well as other parts of this continent have emerged as significant feeders for either the South West criminal hub or, increasingly, directly to important markets and distribution centers in the EU.

3) The North East criminal hub. This area is and will continue to be strongly influenced by feeders and transit zones located just outside the eastern EU borders (the Russian Federation/Kaliningrad, the Ukraine and Belarus). Illicit flows may be traced from the East towards the West (women for sexual exploitation, illegal immigrants, cigarettes, counterfeit goods, synthetic drugs precursors and heroin) but also vice versa (cocaine and cannabis products).

4) The Southern criminal hub. The role of this hub is central in relation to cigarette smuggling, the smuggling and distribution of counterfeit products and the production of counterfeit EUR bills.

Source: Novinite

Sofia Bank Manager to Face Court

A manager of a branch of Hebros Bank in Sofia will face court for not observing the law for measures curbing money laundering.

Branch manager Krassimir Boyanov did not report to the Financial Intelligence Agency for a money transaction from one bank account to another of BGN 874,000 in just one day.

According to investigators working on the case, Boyanov's guilt is finally proven. The case has been introduced to the Sofia City Court.

If Boyanov is pronounced guilty, he may get up to three years in prison.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=75586

2 High-Ranking Officials in Bulgaria Arrested for Money Laundering

Crime: 8 December 2006, Friday.

Two high-ranking officials at Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Ministry have been arrested, reportedly for money laundering.

The operation that led to their arrest was carried out by the Prosecutor's Office and the National Security Service.

One of the arrested officials is the head of the Information and communication services directorate Pavel Pavlov. He was arrested with a large sum of money. A woman subordinate to him was the other arrested individual. A citizen has also been detained.

The operation was carried out in connection with a legal procedure for malfeasance in office regarding public procurements.

The police are searching the homes of the arrested individuals and are looking for documents and other pieces of evidence.

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http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=73787