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In connection with more frequent cases of attempts to import cash from Russia and Belarus, connected to criminal activities and the war in Ukraine and broken into small amounts, the Lithuanian government proposed to increase fines for those who help transport this money, and to provide for the possibility of their confiscation.

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reports BNS.

On March 23, the Lithuanian government approved and also proposed to the Lithuanian Seimas to urgently adopt amendments to the legislative acts designed to increase the severity of fines for inaccurate information about the origin of money, its owners and the purposes of its use.

"Often, to avoid the obligation to declare cash, individuals cross the border in groups.

The transported sums of money are divided into smaller sums - less than 10,000 euros," the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania said in a statement.

Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law on Tax Administration proposed by the Lithuanian government provide for a fine of EUR 390-1,200 for inaccurate information about money transported across the border, and EUR 1,040-3,900 for repeated violations.

Now the amount of the fine for inaccurate information about money is from 200 to 1,200 thousand euros, which, according to the drafters of the amendments, is not a "sufficiently effective and deterrent" sanction, "especially considering that the money being transported can be used in for the purposes of money laundering and financing of terrorism, as well as the fact that the flow of cash transported has been increasing recently," the explanatory note of the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania states.

In addition, it is proposed to confiscate money transported by persons who submitted inaccurate or incomplete information in the cash declaration.

This measure will also be applied in cases where the money does not belong to the person transporting it across the border.

The possibility of confiscation of money is proposed, regardless of whether the violation is committed for the first time or repeatedly.

According to the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania, from December 2022 to January 2023, Lithuanian customs officers recorded 84 cases when citizens of Russia, Belarus, Poland and Lithuania tried to import more than 41 million Ukrainian hryvnias (about 1.05 million euros).

It is noted that a similar situation is observed in neighboring countries.