Employees from the legal sector, representatives of non-banking financial organizations, those from the real estate sector, accountants and auditors attended four consecutive days of training sessions that will help them to more easily identify and report money laundering or terrorist financing. Each of the four sessions was tailored to the specifics of the profession and participants were guided by Council of Europe experts.
Employees in the mentioned jobs are often in a unique position in relation to identifying and mitigating the risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing activities because of their involvement in high value transactions and because of their commitments to customers. Implicit in this position is the responsibility to have a thorough understanding of the characteristic and specific risks faced by each sector, as well as the legal and regulatory obligations that need to be met.
406 participants have been trained in a hybrid format, 155 in person, and other 251 – online. The sessions have been designed to equip participants with the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to effectively identify suspicious activities related to money laundering and terrorist financing and to comply with reporting obligations.
On the first day, the session was dedicated to employees from the legal system, followed on the other days by employees from non-bank financial organizations, employees from the real estate system, then accountants and auditors.
Each group learned about the risks facing their sector, the legal framework governing those risks, and how to report and recognize risk situations without harming client confidentiality.
Council of Europe trainers, Elisabeth Folrkowski and Igor Bereza, specialists with extensive experience in compliance and anti-money laundering, conducted interactive sessions, case studies and practical exercises tailored for each group.
The training events were organized by the Council of Europe with the support and collaboration of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Republic of Moldova.
The activity is part of the project “Enhancing Anti Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Regime in the Republic of Moldova” is designed to provide support to the national authorities to enhance the effectiveness of measures against money laundering and terrorist financing as well as to improve capacities of relevant institutions to recover illicit assets. The project is implemented in the framework of the third phase of the European Union and the Council of Europe (EU/CoE) Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) programme interventions to support the Eastern Partnership countries to counter economic crime at country- specific and regional levels.
