News
Improving financial investigations to better fight economic crime in Armenia
The Armenian authorities have set the fight against corruption and other economic crimes as a top national priority, and undertaken major legislative and institutional reforms in this direction. These include the establishment of a dedicated chain of Law enforcement and criminal justice...
Armenian banks and payment institutions discuss risks related to virtual assets and how to address them
Representatives of the Central Bank of Armenia, including the Financial Monitoring Center of the Central Bank, and the private sector, in particular banks and payment institutions, participated in a workshop on “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks related to Virtual Assets and the...
Workshop on risk-based regulation and supervision of the virtual assets sector in Armenia
Representatives of the Central Bank of Armenia, including the Financial Monitoring Centre within the Central Bank, participated in a workshop on risk-based Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation and supervision in the area of virtual assets, organised in...
The integrity of Moldovan self-administrative bodies of judges and prosecutors supported through enhanced open-source investigation
Responding to a country-specific request from the pre-vetting Secretariat of the Republic of Moldova, the joint European Union, and Council of Europe regional project “Strengthening measures to prevent and combat economic crime” offered a training on open-source investigation and web crawling to...
Training for Ukrainian judges on seizure and confiscation ready to be rolled-out throughout the country
In co-operation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU), a training on seizure and confiscation for Ukrainian criminal judges, both from district and appellate courts, took place online on June 29 with over 85 participants. This training built on previous activities delivered jointly...
Georgian law enforcement agencies improve their skills on economic crime cases through training sessions
Representatives of law enforcement agencies in Georgia participated to the training on corporate criminal liability, organised in a hybrid format on 2-3 June 2022 in co-operation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia. This event is a part of series of activities designed to support...
Priorities and challenges for the asset declaration regime in Georgia identified with the support of our anti-corruption project in the country
The management team of the Civil Service Bureau (CSB), under the guidance of the project “Enhancing the systems of prevention and combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing in Georgia,” discussed during a workshop the effective implementation of the asset declaration regime...
National stakeholders discuss results and next actions of anti-money laundering and asset recovery project in Azerbaijan
24 representatives from 16 national authorities took part in the third Steering Committee meeting of the joint European Union and Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022 project on strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan. The meeting allowed to...
Law enforcement, judiciary, financial intelligence and other authorities enhance their capacities in asset investigation, seizure and confiscation
Following up on the extensive assessment of the existing legal and institutional framework for asset recovery in Azerbaijan previously conducted by the Project, the Council of Europe organised a three-day scenario-based training course to enhance the capacities of 35 representatives of the...
Supervisory capacities of the National Bank of Ukraine on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing improved through our training sessions
A training on supervisory techniques to assess the effectiveness of application by obliged entities of controls on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) and their ability to detect and prevent financial crime marked the completion of a series of on-line training for...
Azerbaijani judges enhance their knowledge on adjudication of money laundering and terrorism financing cases
24 Azerbaijani judges and one representative of the judicial staff enhanced their understanding and skills on judicial processing and adjudication of money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) cases as a result of the training “Processing and Adjudicating ML/TF Cases” which took place...
Law enforcement agencies trained on the special investigative intelligence gathering techniques in the fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing
In cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, the joint European Union-Council of Europe project, organised a two-day training on “Special Investigative Techniques and Intelligence Gathering.” This training was held with the online contribution of Council of Europe...
Effective investigation, prosecution and sanctioning of money laundering offences advanced in Ukraine
Jointly with the National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU), the European Union-Council of Europe joint project, organised an online expert discussion on the application of the recently updated criminal offence of money laundering. This activity builds on long-standing and fruitful cooperation...
Azerbaijani banks and investment companies learn about money laundering and terrorism financing risks related to virtual assets
In co-operation with the Financial Monitoring Service of Azerbaijan (FMS), the Council of Europe organised a two-day training course for 42 representatives of banks and investment companies, and FMS staff members, to introduce them to key concepts on virtual assets and virtual asset service...
Trainee judges in Azerbaijan learn about money laundering and terrorism financing adjudication
In support to the ongoing training programme for judge candidates of the Academy of Justice of Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe organised a two-day course for trainee judges to provide them with important insights on money laundering and other financial crime concepts, as well as good practices...
Ukrainian judges trained to adjudicate terrorist financing
In continuation of previous capacity building efforts and series of training activities for Ukrainian judges in the field of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, the Council of Europe in cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine organised specialised...
Manual on financial investigations to guide law enforcement professionals in Ukraine
The Council of Europe organised the launching and presentation event of the Manual on financial investigations for Ukraine. The Manual is the achievement of more than two years of joint efforts by law enforcement agencies, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the asset recovery and management...
Interagency dialogue on transparency of beneficial ownership in Ukraine
The Council of Europe national and international experts contributed to the conference on "Transparency of ultimate beneficial ownership: lessons and prospects", initiated by the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine and attended by representatives of Ukrainian public authorities included...
Supreme Court Judges of Georgia enhance their knowledge on economic crime adjudication
An online workshop on “Best practices of adjudication of money laundering and other economic crime cases” was organised together with the Supreme Court of Georgia for the judges of the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of Georgia, with direct contribution from an international...
Azerbaijani authorities boost their capacities on anti-corruption and ethics in public service
The handbooks on anti-corruption concepts, standards, and practices, as well as ethics in public service were presented at the meeting of the Scientific-Advisory Council under the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This is of particular importance due to the establishment of the...
Georgian currency exchange bureaus trained to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorism financing in their daily business
The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia (FMS - Financial Intelligence Unit of Georgia) organised a two-day online training on “Anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance for currency exchange bureaus”. In addition to...
Georgian authorities discuss how to identify and manage conflict of interests and assess corruption risks in the public sector
The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia (MOJ) organised a two-day workshop on “Corruption Prevention in the Public Sector”. The workshop aimed at supporting the transition of the Anti-Corruption Council Secretariat to the Administration of the Government of...
Ukrainian prosecutors refine their knowledge and skills on effective investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences
A three-day online training course on “Effective investigation and prosecution of money laundering” was organised together with the Training Centre of Prosecutors of Ukraine. The Prosecutor General’s Office as well as regional and district public prosecution offices benefited from the training,...
National Proliferation Financing Indicators for Ukraine
On 19 March 2021 the technical paper on “Proliferation Financing Threats in Ukraine” was presented to Ukrainian stakeholders in an online event. The document is the result of several months of joint work with a wide range of concerned national authorities including policymakers, law enforcement,...
Integrity checking: Armenian experience, achievements, and prospects for improvement
The project on “Strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Armenia” continues supporting the Corruption Prevention Commission in developing and improving its methodology for integrity checking of judicial nominees. The workshop on “Integrity checking: Armenian...
Towards an improved framework for transparency of beneficial ownership in Azerbaijan
The Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2021) project against money laundering and terrorism financing in Azerbaijan continues to support the national authorities in their efforts to align the national legislation with international standards and best practices geared to anti-money...
Azerbaijan’s legislative framework on targeted financial sanctions discussed
In March 2020, the Council of Europe had responded to a request from Azerbaijani authorities to provide a legal opinion on the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Prevention of the Legalization of Criminally Obtained Funds or Other Property and the Financing of Terrorism, and two bylaws that...
How do we work with the Georgian authorities to fight corruption and money laundering?
Corruption and money laundering are two crimes closely linked to each other and seriously affecting countries’ efforts to build a democratic society. In this video, we will tell you about the significant support to Georgia to prepare the country’s first-ever national anti-money laundering and...
Representatives of relevant government institutions of Azerbaijan enhance data analysis skills with Microsoft Power BI
A training on “Data analysis tools: Microsoft Power BI” took place via video conferencing from 13 to 17 July 2020, bringing together 12 representatives of the Financial Monitoring Service, Anti-Corruption General Directorate, General Prosecutor’s Office, Central Bank, State Tax Service under the...
Council of Europe provides expert opinion on Azerbaijan’s legislation applicable to implementation of targeted financial sanctions
Council of Europe provided a legal opinion to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Azerbaijan, upon its request, on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing legislation. The analysis and recommendations of the opinion are intended to support the competent authorities in improving the...
Armenian civil servants participate in an awareness raising workshop on integrity systems and corruption prevention
An awareness raising workshop on integrity systems and corruption prevention took place on 3 March 2020, in Yerevan, Armenia. The workshop highlighted the importance of establishing a regular anti-corruption training for civil servants. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Corruption...
Ukraine’s Financial Intelligence Unit provided with recommendations for anti-money laundering statistical data collection
The Council of Europe has provided recommendations to further improve a set of comprehensive anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing statistical indicators developed by State Financial Monitoring Service (Financial Intelligence Unit of Ukraine). Adequate data collection is essential...
Financial monitoring service of Azerbaijan improves strategic analysis skills
A two-day training on “Strategic Analysis” took place in Baku, Azerbaijan on 18-19 December 2019 as part of the capacity building activities specifically designed to strengthen strategic and operational analysis capacities and expertise of the Financial Monitoring Service (national Financial...
Workshop on Assets Declaration System in Armenia
On 16 October, the workshop on Assets Declaration System in Armenia in the frame of the PGG II Project on “Strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Armenia" was held in Yerevan. The objective of the workshop was to present the findings and recommendations from the...
Council of Europe and the EU Delegation present joint projects in Belarus for 2019-2021
On Tuesday, 8 October, the Council of Europe and the Delegation of the European Union presented to media in Minsk their joint projects in Belarus for the period 2019 – 2021. The presentation was part of the first meeting of the Local Steering Committee under the second phase of the Partnership...
The Steering Committee of the PGG II- project on “Countering Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Belarus” meets in Minsk
The 1st Steering Committee Meeting of the Project on “Countering Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Belarus” took place on the morning of 19 June 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. Members of the Steering committee are representatives from Investigative Committee, General Prosecutor’s Office,...
First Steering Committee Meeting of PGG Project on “Enhancing the systems of prevention and combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing in Georgia”
The First Steering Committee Meeting of the EU/CoE Partnership for Good Governance Project on “Enhancing the systems of prevention and combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing in Georgia” (PGG II-GE) was organized on 28 May 2019. During the meeting, the Committee members...