The Council of Europe's Anti-Money Laundering Committee MONEYVAL has again warned Montenegro's real estate sector against illegal schemes. The banking sector, casinos and lawyers are also vulnerable, the statement said.
The real estate sector (transactions, investments, sales and brokerage services) is under threat from the point of view of money laundering risk. This is mainly due to the size of the sector and the large number of suspicious transaction reports received.The committee considers operations with crypto currency to be especially dangerous.
Montenegro's real estate sector receives large revenues from transactions with wealthy foreigners that use digital money. Transactions with them are not yet regulated by the legislation of Montenegro, and the government is considered friendly to cryptocurrencies.
In December 2023, it was reported in the media that Montenegro could be added to the "MONEYVAL" gray list due to the lack of results in the application of measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. However, on December 14, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said that the Committee of the Council of Europe had decided not to include Montenegro in the "grey list".
Source: Balkan Insight