Montenegro and Italy have a common interest in cooperating in the fight against organized crime and corruption in all fields, it was assessed at the meeting of the Minister of Justice Andrej Milović with the Ambassador of Italy Andrea Marcela and the delegation of the General Command of the Financial Police of that country.
As announced by the Ministry of Justice, the two agencies concluded that crime and the big money that accompanies it know no borders and that without interstate cooperation there is no effective fight against this big problem.
Milović said that the Ministry of Justice is working on the text of the umbrella memorandum that was agreed with the Minister of Justice of Italy, Carlo Nordi, during a bilateral visit to Rome in February, which will be the framework for interstate cooperation and the basis for concretizing direct cooperation between institutions.
"Italy is a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. For this reason, we want to learn from you and apply all the experiences that can be implemented here," Milović said.
As he pointed out, cooperation with Italy is of inestimable importance for Montenegro.
"For us, cooperation with Italy is of inestimable importance, as well as the experience and help you provide us and will provide us in this field", said Milović, stating that Montenegro is very interested in applying the Italian model of "anti-mafia law".
Marcela pointed out that Italy and their financial police will provide assistance to Montenegro in the fight against organized crime.
"The first very important step will be training for your personnel and institutions dealing with this issue," said Marcela, adding that cooperation will strengthen step by step.
The General of the Financial Police of Italy, Vito Giordano, said that for the fight against organized crime, apart from knowledge and determination, cooperation between institutions within the country and international cooperation is of crucial importance.
"There is a very small number of criminal acts that have nothing to do with money, and he knows no boundaries," Giordano said.
That is why, according to him, direct and full cooperation between institutions and between countries is a condition for success.
"The power of our financial police rests on state institutions, the tax administration, customs and the judiciary. It is our biggest employer and partner", Giordano explained.
Milović thanked the guests from Italy for the planned assistance and said that the Ministry of Justice is working dedicatedly to fix the legislation according to the instructions from Brussels, so that during the Belgian presidency, Montenegro would fulfill the condition for the adoption of the Report on the Fulfillment of Interim Benchmarks (IBAR).
He said that the Ministry of Justice is working on amendments to the entire set of laws that, as he stated, will make Montenegrin legislation efficient and fully compatible with the EU acquis.
"Thus, along with the reform and arrangement of judicial institutions, our judicial system will be fully ready for Montenegro's accession to the EU," said Milović.
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