Article 21: Organization of the Competent Authority
1. The General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering exercises the functions of the Competent Authority according to this law, as an institution subordinate to the Minister of Finances. This directorate, within its field of activity, has the right to decide the way of handling and resolving cases related to possible money laundering and to financing of possible terrorist activities.
2. In compliance with this law, the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering functions as a specialized financial unit for the prevention and fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. Moreover, this directorate operates as national center in charge of collection, analysis and dissemination to law enforcement agencies of information potentially relevant to money laundering and terrorism financing activities.
3. The employment within this Directorate is regulated by the law no. 8549, dated 11.11.1999 “Status of Civil Servants” and by the Labor Code for the support personnel.
4. The organization and functioning of the Directorate is regulated by Council of Minister’s decision.
Article 22: Duties and functions of the Competent Authority
The General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering, as financial intelligence unit, exercises these duties and functions in application of this Law:
a) collects, manages and analyses reports and information from the subjects and other institutions, in accordance with the provisions of this law,
b) access databases and any information managed by the state institutions, as well as in any other public registry within the framework of this law,
c) requests, in the context of the implementation of its legal obligations, financial information from the subjects with respect to transactions performed, for the purposes of the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism,
d) supervises the compliance of the subjects with the obligations set in this Law, including on site inspections alone or in collaboration with respective supervising authorities,
e) exchanges information with any foreign homologue agency, subject to similar obligations of confidentiality. The provided information should be used only for purposes of preventing and fighting money laundering, criminal offences that generate crime proceeds and financing of terrorism and can be shared with others only with prior approval.
f) can enter in agreements with any homologue foreign agency that exercises similar functions and is subject to similar obligations of confidentiality,
g) exchanges information with the Ministry of Interiors, State Intelligence Service and other competent law enforcement authorities regarding physical or legal persons, if there is ground to suspect that this person has committed money laundering or financing of terrorism,
h) for registered criminal proceedings on money laundering and terror financing, in cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office informs the relevant authority on their conclusion,
i) may issue a list of countries in accordance with paragraph 5 of article 9 of this law, in order to limit and/or check the transactions or business relationships of the subjects with these countries,
j) orders, where there are reasons based in facts and specific circumstances for money laundering or financing of terrorism, blocking or temporary freezing of the transaction or financial action for a period not longer that 72 hours. Within this time limit, if it detects elements of a criminal offence, the Authority should refer the case to the Prosecution Office submitting with the referral a copy of the freezing order that comprises the decision for the temporary suspension of the transaction or for the freezing of the account according to this Article, as well as all other information regarding the case.
k) maintains and administers all data and other legal documentation on the reports or any other kind of documentation received for 10 years from the date of the receipt of information related to the last transaction,
l) provides its feedback for the reports made by the subjects,
m) organizes and participates, together with public and private institutions, training activities related to money laundering and terrorism financing and organizes or participates in programs aimed at raising the awareness of the public,
n) notifies the respective supervising authority when it deems that a subject does not comply with the obligations set in this law,
o) publishes every year within the first quarter its yearly public report for the previous year on the activity of the Competent Authority. The report should include detailed statistics on the origin of the reports received and the results of the cases referred to the prosecution.
Article 24: Functions of supervisory authorities
1. The Supervising Authorities are:
a) The Bank of Albania for the subjects referred to in paragraphs “a”, ”b”, “c”, “ç”, “d”, of Article 3,
b) The Supervisory Financial Authority for the subjects referred to in paragraph “dh”, “e” and “ë” of Article 3,
c) Respective ministries for the supervision for the subjects referred to in paragraph “f” and “g” of Article 3,
d) The National Chamber of Advocates for advocates;
e) The Ministry of Justice for notaries;
f) The supervising authority prescribed by the law for the subjects referred to in paragraph “h”, “i”, “j” and “k” of Article 3,
2. The supervising authorities should supervise, through on site inspections, the compliance of the activity of the subjects with the obligations set in Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, 10, 11 and 12 of this Law.
3. The Supervising Authorities immediately report to the Competent Authority every suspicion, information or data related to money laundering or financing of terrorism for the activities under their jurisdiction.
4. The Supervising Authorities perform also the following other duties:
a) control the implementation by the subjects of programs against money laundering programs and terrorism financing as well as ensure the suitability of these programs;
b) adopt the necessary measures for preventing that a person, which is not fit and proper, owns, controls or participates, directly or indirectly, in the direction, administration or activity of a subject;
c) cooperate and offer expert assistance according to the field of their activity in the identification and investigation of money laundering and terrorism financing, in compliance with the requests of the Competent Authority;
d) Cooperate in the drafting and distribution of training programs in the field of the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing;
e) maintain statistics on the actions performed, as well as on the sanctions imposed in the field of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
