Nearing EU Accession, Montenegro Targets Money Behind Organised Crime

Parliament in Montenegro adopted a law on September 3 allowing for the confiscation of assets worth at least 50,000 euros in ongoing cases of alleged organised crime, but experts questioned the state’s capacity to implement it. Organised crime, notably cigarette smuggling, flourished in Montenegro in the 1990s during the collapse of socialist Yugoslavia; the authorities say they are determined to root it out as Podgorica eyes accession to the European Union, but experts say it’s one thing to change laws, and another thing entirely to use them. Previously, authorities were able to confiscate assets worth at least 5,000 euros if there was a reasonable suspicion that those assets were acquired through criminal activity, the owner could not prove their legal origin, and that the person had been convicted of a criminal offence. That remains, but now, in cases of organised crime, assets worth at least 50,000 euros can be seized permanently as soon as charges are confirmed by a court or a main hearing has been scheduled, providing that the court is satisfied that the proceedings have shown the assets were acquired by criminal means. Previously, in all cases, assets could only be confiscated after a criminal conviction.