Srbija
0
Montenegro as "money laundering service"
Montenegro as "money laundering service"
PODGORICA -- EUROPOL's new report on Montenegro says that money laundering is a serious problem, with the country being among "most important money-laundering" locations.
Europol warned that Montenegro "has a problem with money laundering because the illegally acquired money is being injected into the legal economy and jobs," the report of the organization, seen by Podgorica's Dnevne Novine daily, is cited.
"We are still examining what ties the capital gained is this way has with the national leadership and corrupt practices. Under special scrutiny are Russian tycoons whose businesses have for years been suspicious to the European police," said the report.
It is alleged that millions earned illegally in Russia often end up as investments in real estate in Montenegro.
"Montenegro was a very interesting destination for Russian tycoons, where they could work, mostly dealing with money laundering," the Europol document is quoted by the newspaper.
The report notes that Montenegro is located at the crossroads of drug smuggling operations and a part of the so-called Balkans route.
"Montenegro is an interesting direction for smugglers because of poor supervision, but also because of the possibility to bribe customs and police," said the report, adding that criminals used ports on the Adriatic coast for smuggling narcotics such as cocaine.
Criminal groups, according Europol, have been laundering money by investing it in legal businesses. The report pointed out particularly to the "underworld involvement in different types of economic crime and fraud."
Montenegro's Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering reacted to the media reports on Monday by saying that the EUROPOL document quoted was not official, because it was not adopted by the law enforcement organization.
The Montenegrin institution said that the appraisals quoted from the report were "somebody's interpretations which do not reflect the real situation in Montenegro".
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Baluarte
Christianity
United States
Bookmarks