On July 31, 2017, under the direction of the Prime Minister, Mr. Edi Rama, was held the meeting of the Central Task Force for the implementation of the National Plan on the fight for the Prevention of Cannabis Cultivation and Trafficking. The General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering as an integral part of it was represented by the general director Mr. Arlind Gjokuta, who emphasized the intense commitment of GDPML in implementing the tasks and achieving the objectives defined in the Plan, considering the fight against the phenomenon as a common national challenge and as a battle that must be won at all costs.

The proactive action of GDPML, directly in implementation of the action plan, consists in: increasing the control over the circulation of cash, increasing the control and quality of the analysis of suspicious transactions, strengthening inter-institutional cooperation and sending to the law enforcement bodies a number of high cases of suspected money laundering.

 

As a result of the work done in the first 6 months of the year, the number of suspicious activity reports has increased significantly and 178 suspicious cases of money laundering have been disseminated to the State Police and the Prosecution’s Office, out of which 31 cases, with a total value of 3.8 mln euros, a transaction blocking order was issued. 91% of the referred cases have indications of suspicious activity reports sent by the subjects of the law, which is an important indicator for the effectiveness of the preventive system in the country.

During his speech Mr. Gjokuta emphasized the intense commitment of GDPML, in carrying out verifications within the vetting process and in directing the inter-institutional coordination for the assessment of the country by the Moneyval Committee of the Council of Europe, as additional elements that will guarantee long-term success in the fight against the phenomenon of money laundering and criminal activities as a whole.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister Rama emphasized the importance of continuing to identify, stop and punish criminal elements who have obtained large amounts of money in a completely illegal manner and who possess criminal assets.

 

“The presence of the director of the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering in this meeting is not incidental, but it expresses the necessity for the war on this front to be escalated in the direction of criminal elements, criminal money and criminal assets.” he says, underlining that it is the moment for the State Police to prepare for a large national control operation of elements with criminal records throughout the country, who are symbols of these fiefdoms of cannabis cultivation, but not only, who have the status of the strong in the area and that are easily identifiable, easily prosecuted and easily tackled, in terms of the assets they possess.