Justice Ministry under fire for failing to prepare tighter law against money laundering

The Ministry of Justice has come under fire for failing to prepare a law that would make it easier to crack down on money laundering and confiscate illegally acquired assets. Lukáš Kraus, a lawyer and coordinator of the Resilient Czech Republic initiative, pointed out that according to the National Centre against Organised Crime, an estimated 100 billion crowns was laundered in this country in 2020 and 2021 alone. A tighter legislation which aims to crack-down on this practice by freezing or confiscating assets on the basis of “significant indications” that the assets were illegally acquired was to have been ready by the end of last year, but the Justice Ministry has admitted it will not be ready before the October general elections. Today, the authorities often freeze suspicious accounts, but because they lack proof of money laundering, they have to reverse the decision. Under the new bill, it would be up to the owner of the account to prove that the money was acquired legally.