Hereafter, the experiences and considerations of representatives of the Prosecutor General 's Office of Azerbaijan.
Testimony by Mr Amir Ojagverdiyev, Deputy Director, International Legal Co-operation Department, Prosecutor General 's Office of Azerbaijan
“We are delighted to see that our co-operation within the project successfully continues. During the period of implementation, our officers benefited from numerous specialised training events related to various aspects of combating money laundering and financing of terrorism including Mutual Legal Assistance, detection, trial investigation and so on. Our investigators and prosecutors obtained a chance to explore both theoretical and practical aspects such as the Open Source Intelligence Training (OSINT) techniques which greatly contribute to everyday activities of our investigation and detective structures.
In our opinion, the provided trainings played an important role among other complex measures in obtaining positive results both from the view of capacity building of the Anti-Corruption Directorate staff and other involved state agencies.
The project activities also contributed to th
The project closely involves the beneficiaries in the design of the training activities by offering tailor-made training courses addressing our needs. This is an indication of high responsiveness of the project.
We are looking forward to continuing our co-operation within this project and strongly believe it will be fruitful and productive”.
Testimony by Mr Vugar Aliyev, Head of Department for Co-ordination of Special Confiscation Issues, Prosecutor General 's Office of Azerbaijan
“Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe have fruitful co-operation in all areas, including the judiciary. Azerbaijan has successfully fulfilled its obligations since becoming a member of the Council of Europe and has joined all the international initiatives against corruption and money laundering. The support of the European Union and the Council of Europe in studying the advanced international experience is very important for further deepening the judicial and legal reforms in our country.
To ensure the Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan effectively addresses the modern challenges of the society, a new structure of the Prosecutor General's Office was approved, and a Department for Co-ordination of Special Confiscation Issues was established by the Presidential Order dated 10 June 2020. The Department for Co-ordination of Special Confiscation Issues co-ordinates the activities of the relevant units of the Prosecutor's Office's in relation to compensation for damages and the application of special confiscation measures, as well as assists in the detection, tracing, seizure and recovery of assets. Asset recovery is one of the priorities of the Department.
In view of this, the training on “Application of the Warsaw Convention Provisions” delivered on 24 July 2020 within the framework of the European Union and the Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance II Project on “Strengthening Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery in Azerbaijan” project was very useful. Specifically, the presentations on mutual legal assistance in asset recovery, reversal of burden of proof, civil confiscation were received with great interest.
Lectures by the experienced experts on the implementation of international co-operation are important in terms of mastering practical skills.
As a continuation of this activity, we believe that our upcoming co-operation for the assessment of the legal and institutional framework for asset recovery in Azerbaijan will be successful and useful.
We express our deep gratitude to all those who contribute to the implementation of this project, the Council of Europe and the European Union, and wish them success in their activities”.