Featured North Macedonia

North Macedonia’s Fugitive Ex-PM May Face Dirty Money Probe Over Hungarian Business

North Macedonia’s fugitive former prime minister Nikola Gruevski could face a fresh money laundering probe following reports that he used money transferred from his home country to start new business ventures in Hungary, the former prosecutor of the now defunct North Macedonia’s Special Prosecution, SJO, Lence Ristovka, said. “If information… Read More

U.S. ‘Modernizes’ Sanctions Policy For Western Balkans To Go After Corruption

The United States is “modernizing” its sanctions policy in the Western Balkans by further targeting corruption, human rights abuses, and acts that threaten democracy in the region, the State Department said. “The United States recognizes that corruption threatens economic equity, global anti-poverty and development efforts, and democracy itself,” Secretary… Read More

Balkan money-laundering is booming

On May 12th, prosecutors in North Macedonia charged Nikola Gruevski, the country’s former prime minister, with money-laundering. It is alleged that he funnelled cash donated to his party through Belize to buy property illegally and conceal its ownership. He says the case is politically motivated. Meanwhile in Jahorina, a popular… Read More

17th May 2021

Money laundering pushes up property prices in Western Balkan cities

The real estate and construction sectors are being used to launder illicit money from the drugs trade and migrant trafficking in the Western Balkans, leading to a hike in property prices, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime. Laundering money through construction and real estate… Read More

11th May 2021

Balkan Migrant-Smuggling Business ‘Worth €50m a Year’: Report

The migrant-smuggling business in Western Balkan countries is worth at least 50 million euros a year, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime NGO said in a report published on Monday. The report assesses the money being made by smugglers in the three key smuggling zones in the Western… Read More

15th March 2021

Balkan States Under Pressure to Prosecute Financiers of Terrorism

Military uniforms, rifle scopes, combat boots, tactical gear, firearms accessories and range finders: these were just some of the items that were bought with money that Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, a man from Bosnia and Herzegovina who was living in the United States, was convicting of raising for terrorist fighters in… Read More

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