|
h
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
h
Sanctions:
Macedonia is regarded as being part of the geographical region
of the Western Balkans and therefore falls under the US sanction
order as follows: -
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/pages/balkans.aspx
The European Union adopted Council Regulation (EC) No
1295/98 on 22 June 1998. The Regulation provided, among other
matters, for a freeze on the funds of the Governments of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Republic of Serbia.
The restrictive measures were subsequently modified to include a
ban on investment in the FRY and the Republic of Serbia.
Council Regulation (EC) No 2488/2000 lifted the investment ban
and the financial sanctions in respect of the FRY and the Republic
of Serbia. However, specific sanctions still applied to former
President Slobodan Milosevic and those persons associated with
him.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1205/2001 modified the financial
sanctions to cover only those funds belonging to Mr Slobodan
Milosevic, and certain members of his family and other close
associates. The Regulation had the effect of amending the list of
persons in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 2488/2000 to
whom the financial sanctions apply.
For further information:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_yugoslavia.htm
http://ec.europa.
eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/docs/measures_en.pdf
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
Macedonia is not a regional financial center. Most financial
transactions are done through the banking system, which is
regulated and supervised. However, cash transactions and
settlements of considerable amounts sometimes take place
outside the banking system. Money laundering in Macedonia is
mostly connected to financial crimes such as tax evasion,
smuggling, financial and privatization fraud, insurance fraud,
bribery, and corruption. Most of the laundered proceeds come
from domestic criminal activities. A small portion of money
laundering activity may be connected to narcotics trafficking.
There is no evidence that narcotics trafficking organizations or
terrorist groups control money laundering. Also, there is no
evidence that weapons or human traffickers have been involved
in money laundering activities using bank or non-bank financial
institutions. However, since organized crime groups are involved
in both weapons and human trafficking in Macedonia, it is possible
that proceeds from these activities have been laundered by
investing in businesses.
Macedonia is not an offshore financial center, and the Law on
Banks does not allow the existence of shell banks in Macedonia.
Banks do not allow the opening of anonymous bank accounts,
and bearer shares are not permitted. There is no evidence that
alternative remittance systems exist in Macedonia. There are a
few operational free trade zones in Macedonia, which all function
as industrial zones within which some industrial production has
the legal right to receive the benefits of a free trade zone. The
production facilities enjoying these benefits are owned by foreign
investors. The GOM is trying to attract more foreign investment by
leasing out several large free trade zones throughout the country.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S.; OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes approach
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt/)
KNOW-YOUR-CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Banks, savings houses, exchange offices, stock
exchanges, central registry, central securities depositary, credit
bureaus, brokerages, insurance companies, auditing companies,
accountants, notaries, attorneys at law, real estate agents,
consultants, NGOs, casinos and gaming centers
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Banks, savings houses, exchange offices, stock
exchanges, central registry, central securities depositary, credit
bureaus, brokerages, insurance companies, auditing companies,
accountants, notaries, attorneys at law, real estate agents,
consultants, NGOs, casinos and gaming centers
Number of STRs received and time frame: 279 from January
through November 2010
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 75,482 from January
through November 2010
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: Two from January to November 2010
Convictions: One from January to November 2010
Assets forfeited: criminally: $104,000 from January to November
2010 civilly: None
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Macedonia is a member of MONEYVAL, a Financial Action Task
Force (FATF)-style regional body. Its most recent mutual
evaluation can be found here: www.coe.int/moneyval
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS:
Dealers of arts, antiques, and other high-value consumer goods,
entities dealing with jewelry and precious metals, and travel
agencies are excluded from the list of entities obliged to report
suspicious and cash transactions to the Macedonian FIU. So far,
there is no evidence that any of these entities engage in money
laundering or terrorist financing activities.
Non-bank financial institutions, including exchange offices and
non-bank money transfer agents, as well as all other reporting
entities, are poorly supervised and audited in regard to anti-
money laundering/counter terrorist financing programs and
practices. These institutions are to be supervised by the Public
Revenue Office; in practice such inspections rarely occur as the
Public Revenue Office is focused on investigating tax evasion.
There is a need for improving supervision of the non-bank
financial sector and providing necessary resources and training to
ensure full implementation of laws. Although mandatory, reporting
by lawyers, accountants, brokers, real estate agents, consultants,
NGOs, casinos, and notaries is irregular, but improving.
The FIU’s competencies overlap in many areas with the Public
Revenue Office, the Customs Administration, the Financial Police,
and the regular police. Although in the past two or more of these
institutions would be working independently on the same cases,
coordination between them has been effective, resulting in
several coordinated large-scale investigations of cases
concerning money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, corruption, and
misuse of official position, involving numerous companies and
individuals.
Terrorist financing is a crime under Macedonian laws, but to date,
there have been no convictions for terrorist financing. There are
no indications that financiers of terrorism use trade-based money
laundering schemes or the free trade zones for their operations.
A few smaller banks and all savings houses lack the ability to
electronically identify account holders and transactions by named
individuals and usually will cross-check their customer lists with
distributed lists manually.
According to the Macedonian Law on Preventing Money
Laundering and Other Proceeds of Crime and Terrorism
Financing (LPMLTF), financial institutions can temporarily freeze
assets of suspected money launderers and terrorist financiers
prior to receiving a court order. Frozen assets are confiscated
only by a court’s final verdict. Although there is existing legislation
for management of seized and forfeited assets, more work is
needed to bring it in line with good international practices.
Macedonia has passed complex legislation pertaining to judicial
reforms, including amendments to the Constitution and the
Criminal Procedure Code that allow the use of specialized
investigative methods in investigating money laundering cases. In
2010, the Parliament adopted a new Criminal Procedure Code,
which after becoming effective in the second half of 2011 will
strengthen prosecutors’ ability to more effectively prosecute
serious and organized crime. Reforms in the judiciary should
further enhance efforts to combat organized crime, corruption,
terrorism, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, and
narcotics, by increasing penalties, tightening definitions, and
defining authorities responsible for taking the lead in combating
these various crimes. However, real reforms are almost non-
existent, the judiciary is highly politicized, and the rule of law is
backsliding.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
Macedonia is neither a major producer nor a major regional
transit point for illicit drugs. GOM officials reported a drop in
volume of narcotics seizures while criminal narcotic cases
remained at about the same level as 2010. Macedonia is a party
to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The 1901 Extradition Treaty
between the United States and Serbia applies to Macedonia as a
successor state of the former Yugoslavia. Macedonia is a party to
the UN Convention against Corruption and to the UN Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols.
Macedonia’s National Anti-drug Strategy (2006-2012) sets out two
general aims: (1) to prevent new and reduce current drug use,
dependence, and drug related harms to health and society and
(2) to take action against drug production and cross-border drug
trafficking while preventing drug-related crimes. The two main
aims are complemented by three cross-cutting themes:
coordination, international cooperation, and monitoring and
evaluation. The government has been implementing the plan
steadily, and its goals are now 90 percent accomplished with one
year remaining.
Macedonia lies on the Balkan route, used to deliver Afghan heroin
to Western Europe. Hashish and marijuana produced in Albania
also travel through Macedonia, but in the opposite direction to
Turkey and Greece. Synthetic drugs on the Macedonian market
are smuggled in from neighboring Bulgaria and Serbia and also
from the Netherlands. These trafficking routes, however, seem to
be less utilized than in the past, given a significant drop in heroin
seizures. The drop in heroin seizures is a regional trend, and may
be a result of a reduction in opium production in Afghanistan in
2010, which caused a significant shortage of heroin throughout
Europe. Other factors included more air delivery of drugs, more
frequent use of different smuggling routes, drug smuggling by way
of Africa, and the shifting trend to cigarette smuggling. The
market price of heroin has increased to 17,000 to 20,000 Euros
per kilo, depending on the quality. In the first nine months of
2011, criminal narcotics-related charges were brought against
495 people. This represents a decrease of about 154 people
charged compared with 2010 and a total of around 408 criminal
narcotics cases. Of these, 412 people were charged with illegal
production of narcotics and psychotropic substances. There were
73 cases for trafficking in narcotics committed by 83 people.
These cases resulted in the seizure of 140 kilograms of
marijuana, 22 kilograms of heroin, 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, 1.5
liters of liquid cocaine, 1,040 cannabis plants, 637 tablets of
amphetamine, and 126 grams of methamphetamine. The number
of cases reported is less than the number of defendants, since in
some cases multiple defendants are associated with a single
narcotics case.
Enforcement cooperation with Macedonia’s new neighbor,
Kosovo, continued to improve. A case coordinated by the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in which Macedonia
cooperated with Serbia, and Greece led to the seizure of 170
kilograms of cocaine in Greece. Macedonian work with drug
enforcement agencies in Bulgaria resulted in the arrest of
“Gecov”, the biggest drug lord in the region.
Ministry of Health officials estimate that there are approximately
10,000 problematic drug users in Macedonia. The most frequently
used drug is marijuana, followed by heroin. Treatment and
rehabilitation activities are carried out in 12 state-run outpatient
medical clinics. These clinics supervise methadone maintenance
therapy for registered heroin addicts. In addition, the Clinic for
Toxicology at the University Clinical Center in Skopje treats
patients with buprenorphine. All Macedonian prisons offer
methadone treatment for drug addicts. Macedonia’s two largest
prisons, with over 60 percent of the country’s total prison
population, have residential programs in special prison wards.
The funding for these clinics and their treatment medications
comes from the national budget.
Of the 1500 prisoners in the country’s main prison, an estimated
one quarter were identified as drug addicts, mainly addicted to
heroin. Macedonian health officials acknowledged that
rehabilitation centers are overcrowded. In-patient treatment in
specialized facilities consists of detoxification accompanied by
medicinal/vitamin therapy, as well as limited family therapy,
counseling, and social work. Follow-up services after detoxification
and social reintegration programs for treated drug abusers are
inadequate. There are only three centers for social reintegration
and rehabilitation in Macedonia.
The Macedonian Ministry of Education, with NGO and
international support, successfully implemented three pilot
prevention programs in three different cities in Macedonia, each
of which included significant teacher training and other “train the
trainer” programs. Educational prevention materials, such as fliers
and posters, were also distributed in the pilot schools.
Corruption is common throughout the government in Macedonia.
As a matter of policy and practice, however, the Government of
the Republic of Macedonia does not encourage or facilitate the
illicit production or distribution of drugs, or the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. Going forward, the United
States Government, through State Department-funded law
enforcement training programs implemented by DOJ and DEA, will
continue to work to strengthen the ability of Macedonian police,
prosecutors, and judges to more efficiently enforce Macedonia’s
laws against narcotics traffickers.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 1)
Macedonia is a source, destination, and transit country for men,
women, and children for sex trafficking and forced labor.
Macedonian women and children are trafficked within the country.
Foreign victims subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in
Macedonia can originate in Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and
Kosovo. Macedonian victims and victims transiting through
Macedonia are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in
South Central and Western Europe. Children, including ethnic
Roma, are subjected to forced begging in streets and public
markets. Macedonian men are vulnerable to forced labor within
the region. All trafficking victims identified by the government in
2010 were domestic citizens. According to the 2010 National
Rapporteur’s Anti-Trafficking and Smuggling Report, the current
profile of trafficking defendants includes primarily owners of bars,
night clubs, and small hotels as well as taxi drivers, club bouncers,
and dancing recruiters.
The Government of Macedonia fully complies with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government made
significant strides in its law enforcement efforts to combat
trafficking by convicting an increased number of trafficking
offenders and prosecuting and convicting an official for trafficking
complicity in 2010. The government identified an increased
number of trafficking victims and opened a shelter for domestic
trafficking victims in February 2011. However, the Government of
Macedonia has yet to achieve a comprehensive victim-centered
approach to trafficking. Implementation of proactive identification
procedures among local-level police and other front-line
responders remained an ongoing concern. Accurate identification
of trafficking cases and conflation of human trafficking with other
criminal activities continued to be problems, raising the risk that
unidentified trafficking victims could face continued exploitation or
deportation, and not benefit from assistance.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
Macedonia is regarded as being part of the geographical region
of the Western Balkans and therefore falls under the US sanction
order as follows: -
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/pages/balkans.aspx
The European Union adopted Council Regulation (EC) No
1295/98 on 22 June 1998. The Regulation provided, among other
matters, for a freeze on the funds of the Governments of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Republic of Serbia.
The restrictive measures were subsequently modified to include a
ban on investment in the FRY and the Republic of Serbia.
Council Regulation (EC) No 2488/2000 lifted the investment ban
and the financial sanctions in respect of the FRY and the Republic
of Serbia. However, specific sanctions still applied to former
President Slobodan Milosevic and those persons associated with
him.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1205/2001 modified the financial
sanctions to cover only those funds belonging to Mr Slobodan
Milosevic, and certain members of his family and other close
associates. The Regulation had the effect of amending the list of
persons in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 2488/2000 to
whom the financial sanctions apply.
For further information:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_yugoslavia.htm
http://ec.europa.
eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/docs/measures_en.pdf
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
Macedonia is not a regional financial center. Most financial
transactions are done through the banking system, which is
regulated and supervised. However, cash transactions and
settlements of considerable amounts sometimes take place
outside the banking system. Money laundering in Macedonia is
mostly connected to financial crimes such as tax evasion,
smuggling, financial and privatization fraud, insurance fraud,
bribery, and corruption. Most of the laundered proceeds come
from domestic criminal activities. A small portion of money
laundering activity may be connected to narcotics trafficking.
There is no evidence that narcotics trafficking organizations or
terrorist groups control money laundering. Also, there is no
evidence that weapons or human traffickers have been involved
in money laundering activities using bank or non-bank financial
institutions. However, since organized crime groups are involved
in both weapons and human trafficking in Macedonia, it is possible
that proceeds from these activities have been laundered by
investing in businesses.
Macedonia is not an offshore financial center, and the Law on
Banks does not allow the existence of shell banks in Macedonia.
Banks do not allow the opening of anonymous bank accounts,
and bearer shares are not permitted. There is no evidence that
alternative remittance systems exist in Macedonia. There are a
few operational free trade zones in Macedonia, which all function
as industrial zones within which some industrial production has
the legal right to receive the benefits of a free trade zone. The
production facilities enjoying these benefits are owned by foreign
investors. The GOM is trying to attract more foreign investment by
leasing out several large free trade zones throughout the country.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S.; OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes approach
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt/)
KNOW-YOUR-CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Banks, savings houses, exchange offices, stock
exchanges, central registry, central securities depositary, credit
bureaus, brokerages, insurance companies, auditing companies,
accountants, notaries, attorneys at law, real estate agents,
consultants, NGOs, casinos and gaming centers
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Banks, savings houses, exchange offices, stock
exchanges, central registry, central securities depositary, credit
bureaus, brokerages, insurance companies, auditing companies,
accountants, notaries, attorneys at law, real estate agents,
consultants, NGOs, casinos and gaming centers
Number of STRs received and time frame: 279 from January
through November 2010
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 75,482 from January
through November 2010
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: Two from January to November 2010
Convictions: One from January to November 2010
Assets forfeited: criminally: $104,000 from January to November
2010 civilly: None
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Macedonia is a member of MONEYVAL, a Financial Action Task
Force (FATF)-style regional body. Its most recent mutual
evaluation can be found here: www.coe.int/moneyval
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS:
Dealers of arts, antiques, and other high-value consumer goods,
entities dealing with jewelry and precious metals, and travel
agencies are excluded from the list of entities obliged to report
suspicious and cash transactions to the Macedonian FIU. So far,
there is no evidence that any of these entities engage in money
laundering or terrorist financing activities.
Non-bank financial institutions, including exchange offices and
non-bank money transfer agents, as well as all other reporting
entities, are poorly supervised and audited in regard to anti-
money laundering/counter terrorist financing programs and
practices. These institutions are to be supervised by the Public
Revenue Office; in practice such inspections rarely occur as the
Public Revenue Office is focused on investigating tax evasion.
There is a need for improving supervision of the non-bank
financial sector and providing necessary resources and training to
ensure full implementation of laws. Although mandatory, reporting
by lawyers, accountants, brokers, real estate agents, consultants,
NGOs, casinos, and notaries is irregular, but improving.
The FIU’s competencies overlap in many areas with the Public
Revenue Office, the Customs Administration, the Financial Police,
and the regular police. Although in the past two or more of these
institutions would be working independently on the same cases,
coordination between them has been effective, resulting in
several coordinated large-scale investigations of cases
concerning money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, corruption, and
misuse of official position, involving numerous companies and
individuals.
Terrorist financing is a crime under Macedonian laws, but to date,
there have been no convictions for terrorist financing. There are
no indications that financiers of terrorism use trade-based money
laundering schemes or the free trade zones for their operations.
A few smaller banks and all savings houses lack the ability to
electronically identify account holders and transactions by named
individuals and usually will cross-check their customer lists with
distributed lists manually.
According to the Macedonian Law on Preventing Money
Laundering and Other Proceeds of Crime and Terrorism
Financing (LPMLTF), financial institutions can temporarily freeze
assets of suspected money launderers and terrorist financiers
prior to receiving a court order. Frozen assets are confiscated
only by a court’s final verdict. Although there is existing legislation
for management of seized and forfeited assets, more work is
needed to bring it in line with good international practices.
Macedonia has passed complex legislation pertaining to judicial
reforms, including amendments to the Constitution and the
Criminal Procedure Code that allow the use of specialized
investigative methods in investigating money laundering cases. In
2010, the Parliament adopted a new Criminal Procedure Code,
which after becoming effective in the second half of 2011 will
strengthen prosecutors’ ability to more effectively prosecute
serious and organized crime. Reforms in the judiciary should
further enhance efforts to combat organized crime, corruption,
terrorism, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, and
narcotics, by increasing penalties, tightening definitions, and
defining authorities responsible for taking the lead in combating
these various crimes. However, real reforms are almost non-
existent, the judiciary is highly politicized, and the rule of law is
backsliding.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
Macedonia is neither a major producer nor a major regional
transit point for illicit drugs. GOM officials reported a drop in
volume of narcotics seizures while criminal narcotic cases
remained at about the same level as 2010. Macedonia is a party
to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The 1901 Extradition Treaty
between the United States and Serbia applies to Macedonia as a
successor state of the former Yugoslavia. Macedonia is a party to
the UN Convention against Corruption and to the UN Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols.
Macedonia’s National Anti-drug Strategy (2006-2012) sets out two
general aims: (1) to prevent new and reduce current drug use,
dependence, and drug related harms to health and society and
(2) to take action against drug production and cross-border drug
trafficking while preventing drug-related crimes. The two main
aims are complemented by three cross-cutting themes:
coordination, international cooperation, and monitoring and
evaluation. The government has been implementing the plan
steadily, and its goals are now 90 percent accomplished with one
year remaining.
Macedonia lies on the Balkan route, used to deliver Afghan heroin
to Western Europe. Hashish and marijuana produced in Albania
also travel through Macedonia, but in the opposite direction to
Turkey and Greece. Synthetic drugs on the Macedonian market
are smuggled in from neighboring Bulgaria and Serbia and also
from the Netherlands. These trafficking routes, however, seem to
be less utilized than in the past, given a significant drop in heroin
seizures. The drop in heroin seizures is a regional trend, and may
be a result of a reduction in opium production in Afghanistan in
2010, which caused a significant shortage of heroin throughout
Europe. Other factors included more air delivery of drugs, more
frequent use of different smuggling routes, drug smuggling by way
of Africa, and the shifting trend to cigarette smuggling. The
market price of heroin has increased to 17,000 to 20,000 Euros
per kilo, depending on the quality. In the first nine months of
2011, criminal narcotics-related charges were brought against
495 people. This represents a decrease of about 154 people
charged compared with 2010 and a total of around 408 criminal
narcotics cases. Of these, 412 people were charged with illegal
production of narcotics and psychotropic substances. There were
73 cases for trafficking in narcotics committed by 83 people.
These cases resulted in the seizure of 140 kilograms of
marijuana, 22 kilograms of heroin, 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, 1.5
liters of liquid cocaine, 1,040 cannabis plants, 637 tablets of
amphetamine, and 126 grams of methamphetamine. The number
of cases reported is less than the number of defendants, since in
some cases multiple defendants are associated with a single
narcotics case.
Enforcement cooperation with Macedonia’s new neighbor,
Kosovo, continued to improve. A case coordinated by the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in which Macedonia
cooperated with Serbia, and Greece led to the seizure of 170
kilograms of cocaine in Greece. Macedonian work with drug
enforcement agencies in Bulgaria resulted in the arrest of
“Gecov”, the biggest drug lord in the region.
Ministry of Health officials estimate that there are approximately
10,000 problematic drug users in Macedonia. The most frequently
used drug is marijuana, followed by heroin. Treatment and
rehabilitation activities are carried out in 12 state-run outpatient
medical clinics. These clinics supervise methadone maintenance
therapy for registered heroin addicts. In addition, the Clinic for
Toxicology at the University Clinical Center in Skopje treats
patients with buprenorphine. All Macedonian prisons offer
methadone treatment for drug addicts. Macedonia’s two largest
prisons, with over 60 percent of the country’s total prison
population, have residential programs in special prison wards.
The funding for these clinics and their treatment medications
comes from the national budget.
Of the 1500 prisoners in the country’s main prison, an estimated
one quarter were identified as drug addicts, mainly addicted to
heroin. Macedonian health officials acknowledged that
rehabilitation centers are overcrowded. In-patient treatment in
specialized facilities consists of detoxification accompanied by
medicinal/vitamin therapy, as well as limited family therapy,
counseling, and social work. Follow-up services after detoxification
and social reintegration programs for treated drug abusers are
inadequate. There are only three centers for social reintegration
and rehabilitation in Macedonia.
The Macedonian Ministry of Education, with NGO and
international support, successfully implemented three pilot
prevention programs in three different cities in Macedonia, each
of which included significant teacher training and other “train the
trainer” programs. Educational prevention materials, such as fliers
and posters, were also distributed in the pilot schools.
Corruption is common throughout the government in Macedonia.
As a matter of policy and practice, however, the Government of
the Republic of Macedonia does not encourage or facilitate the
illicit production or distribution of drugs, or the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. Going forward, the United
States Government, through State Department-funded law
enforcement training programs implemented by DOJ and DEA, will
continue to work to strengthen the ability of Macedonian police,
prosecutors, and judges to more efficiently enforce Macedonia’s
laws against narcotics traffickers.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 1)
Macedonia is a source, destination, and transit country for men,
women, and children for sex trafficking and forced labor.
Macedonian women and children are trafficked within the country.
Foreign victims subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in
Macedonia can originate in Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and
Kosovo. Macedonian victims and victims transiting through
Macedonia are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in
South Central and Western Europe. Children, including ethnic
Roma, are subjected to forced begging in streets and public
markets. Macedonian men are vulnerable to forced labor within
the region. All trafficking victims identified by the government in
2010 were domestic citizens. According to the 2010 National
Rapporteur’s Anti-Trafficking and Smuggling Report, the current
profile of trafficking defendants includes primarily owners of bars,
night clubs, and small hotels as well as taxi drivers, club bouncers,
and dancing recruiters.
The Government of Macedonia fully complies with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government made
significant strides in its law enforcement efforts to combat
trafficking by convicting an increased number of trafficking
offenders and prosecuting and convicting an official for trafficking
complicity in 2010. The government identified an increased
number of trafficking victims and opened a shelter for domestic
trafficking victims in February 2011. However, the Government of
Macedonia has yet to achieve a comprehensive victim-centered
approach to trafficking. Implementation of proactive identification
procedures among local-level police and other front-line
responders remained an ongoing concern. Accurate identification
of trafficking cases and conflation of human trafficking with other
criminal activities continued to be problems, raising the risk that
unidentified trafficking victims could face continued exploitation or
deportation, and not benefit from assistance.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
|
|
| Further Tables |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*Please note that FATF deems that a country has significant aml deficiencies if any
of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated either
Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated either
Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
| MACEDONIA FYR |
| KnowYourCountry |
|
|
| Last Updated: 16 April 2012 |