Eurasia Press & News
The House of Peoples of the Bosnian Parliament has finally adopted a law on anti-money laundering – bowing to EU threats – but it has yet to agree on changes needed to criminal law.
The Bosnian parliament’s House of Peoples adopted an anti-money laundering law on June 6, bowing to European Union pressure to do so.
But the necessary changes to the country’s criminal law have still not won the support of Serbian MPs, who say the matter should be left to the country’s two entities.
Delegates from the Republika Srpska entity say the matter should not come under Bosnia’s state-level jurisdiction.
Serbian delegate Stasa Kosarac said the interests of the Republika Srpska had been defended as ‘We have enough possibilities… not to allow the transfer of jurisdiction’.
Earlier this year, the Council of Europe’s committee on money-laundering, Moneyval, warned that unless the country passed reforms in this field, financial institutions should take precautions when conducting financial transactions with Bosnia.
The Bosnian parliament failed to adopt the changes ahead of a June 1 deadline set by Moneyval.
Bosnia was in danger of being placed on a list of problematic countries including Iran, North Korea, Algeria, Pakistan and Syria.
The changes to the law had been backed by the Bosnian government and the House of Representatives of the state parliament, but not by its other chamber, the House of Peoples.
