Almost EUR 2 billion in cash transited Romania's borders between 2024 and 2025 and analyses indicate repetitive flows, recurring routes and major risks of money laundering, the Ministry of Finance announced on Wednesday.

According to analyses, Ukraine was the main country of origin of funds, followed by Moldova and Turkey, while the main destinations of declared cash were Turkey, Austria and Romania.

'In 2024-2025 alone, 73% of the declarations submitted upon entry into the EU through Romania had Ukraine as their source of origin. Checks revealed that a small group of people repeatedly carried out very large cash shipments. Of the total of 1,464 declarations related to people who entered the EU from Ukraine, 943 declarations - representing 64% - were submitted by only 21 people,' reads a press release from the Ministry of Finance.

According to a report recently completed by the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the Romanian Customs Authority, strategic analyses carried out on the cash declarations submitted at Romania's border points highlight the existence of large, repetitive and concentrated cross-border cash flows, which involved amounts of over EUR 1.7 billion transited through Romania in 2024-2025.

Thus, the analysed data show that, between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025, 7,593 declarations of cash, of which 5,758 upon entry into the European Union through Romania's border crossings and 1,835 at exit from the EU. The total value declared at the entrance was EUR 1.261 billion, while upon exiting it was EUR of 511.7 million.

The analysis also revealed the concentration of very large volumes of cash at several customs points. Thus, the Siret Border Customs Office registered, during the analysed period, declarations totalling approximately EUR 793.9 million, and the Halmeu Border Customs Office approximately EUR 362.7 million. Cumulatively, the two customs points concentrated over 92% of the total amounts declared nationwide.

'The data analysed following the control show that, in the first months of 2025, the cash flows transported across the border increased significantly, both on entry into the European Union and on exit. The peak of the phenomenon was recorded between March and May 2025, when the declared volumes clearly exceeded the levels of the same period of 2024. The peak values recorded were around EUR 72 million in March, EUR 67 million in April and almost EUR 100 million in May 2025. Starting in June 2025 and continuing into 2026, however, flows decrease sharply. Thus, the levels in the second part of 2025 and those in the first months of 2026 are significantly lower than those in the peak period,' according to the analysis.

The Finance Ministry says that the change indicates that the phenomenon identified in the first part of the yeardiminished, including by intensifying the control and monitoring measures initiated by the institution.

At the same time, the Control Body of the Ministry of Finance and the Romanian Customs Authority are currently carrying out control actions that include among the objectives the verification of compliance with the legal provisions and internal rules regarding the control of cash entering or leaving the European Union, the management of the single form used to declare cash at the EU border, for the period 2024-2025.

None of the persons at the head of the National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering and of the responsible offices of the Romanian Customs Authority during the verified period no longer occupy management positions today, having been dismissed during the past months.

'The reform of the Romanian Customs Authority and the consolidation of control mechanisms are one of Romania's major strategic priorities. We need a real capacity for risk analysis, modern monitoring tools and efficient institutional cooperation, so that Romania can prevent and combat the vulnerabilities associated with cross-border financial flows,' according to Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare.

The detailed report of the findings and analyses carried out was sent to the relevant authorities to take the necessary legal measures. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)