A Train the trainers (TOT) course on “Anti-money laundering and combatting financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance for Georgian lawyers” took place in Tbilisi on 25-26 June 2018. The TOT targets practitioner lawyers, members of the Georgian Bar Association (GBA), who will serve as national trainers on the topic in the future. The representative of the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia (FIU of Georgia) will also contribute to the event together with the Council of Europe national and international experts.

In the two-day training session participants will be familiarised with relevant international and local AML/CTF requirements, new AML/CFT draft law of Georgia, AML/CFT risks and vulnerabilities in the sector, most frequent AML/CFT typologies and red flags relevant for lawyers, and the role of the supervisory institution in enforcing compliance. Particular attention was paid to important issues relating to the profession of a lawyer, such as how to observe AML/CFT rules without violating client secrecy and legal professional privilege. As a part of this effort, participants were also provided with the Training Manual to be used in future national courses.

The activity is organised within the European Union and Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance Project “Strengthening anti-money laundering institutions in Georgia”, implemented since 2015.