Radev: The cabinet's actions against money laundering and corruption are a guarantee for our exit from the "gray list"

The political will and the actions taken by the Bulgarian government to combat money laundering, the shadow economy and corruption are another guarantee that gives Bulgaria strong positions for exiting the shameful “gray list“. This was stated by Prime Minister Rumen Radev during today's meeting of the Coordination and Cooperation Council, which took place at the Council of Ministers. During the meeting, a review was made of the progress in implementing the measures and the actions taken to remove our country from the “grey list”, given the upcoming reporting to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and their expected visit to Bulgaria.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev pointed out that the current government is the first to have a special section in its management program, and at the same time, it is placed in a leading position, with clearly outlined measures to combat corruption, the shadow economy and money laundering. These measures are being followed unwaveringly, the Prime Minister emphasized and indicated that all signals of abuse and corruption are immediately taken by the competent authorities such as the Ministry of Interior, the services and the economic police. “We are working on all cases and I will insist on even greater speed and for quick results”, Radev said.
The Prime Minister specifically highlighted the importance of the cabinet's initiative – “Sigma“, which is a public tool for transparency of financial flows in the state. The system has already processed nearly 200,000 public procurements and the results show that in over 30% of them there is only one candidate. “We will work hard to reduce this figure”, Radev noted. Work is already underway on the next stage, in which the system will be connected to the Commercial Register and all connections leading to corrupt practices will be revealed. In the future, the system will also take into account price anomalies, in which abnormally high prices emerge. At its full capacity, “Sigma“ will be a very strong tool for constant automatic control against abuses. “It is important not only to fight corruption post factum, but to create mechanisms that prevent and minimize such phenomena“, said Prime Minister Radev.
In addition, reference prices for water and sanitation and road repairs and construction are about to become a reality. We are also working hard on digitalization so that there is unified coordination in transport – of the toll system, customs and the National Revenue Agency.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev pointed out that the government's goal is not just to create a system to fight corruption retrospectively – such as investigation, detection, interception, but to build mechanisms through which money laundering, abuse, gray economy and corruption are not allowed. “I call for expeditious action in the time remaining until the Group's visit, so that all other activities under this plan are carried out on time, qualitatively and of course, duly reported“, the Prime Minister concluded.