Cross-Border Co-operation against Corruption and Money Laundering in focus of OSCE-led workshop

VIENNA, 1 October 2014 – Three-day workshop on Cross-Border Co-operation against Corruption and Money Laundering involving officials from OSCE participating States in Central Asia, South Caucasus and Eastern Europe as well as international experts started today in Vienna.

The workshop is co-organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG).

Some 50 participants from financial intelligence units, anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and specialized international organizations will discuss links between corruption and money laundering, ways to counter cross-border movements of proceeds of corruption, domestic coordination in identifying, tracing and recovering illicit assets, use of legal persons and other legal arrangements to conceal criminal assets. They will also be introduced to good practices for the drafting of Mutual Legal Assistance requests as well as the use of regional networks to facilitate co-operation in asset forfeiture and recovery.

Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities Halil Yurdakul Yigitguden stressed in his opening remarks: “Money laundering and corruption are intertwined, and oversight and law enforcement authorities must have adequate skills and resources to conduct investigations and prosecutions of these phenomena. Contemporary crimes do not stop at national borders and cross-border exchange of information becomes essential.”

Vladimir Kozin, UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, said: “In order to successfully tackle the crimes of corruption and money laundering, it is crucial to promote contacts between relevant national authorities, experts and practitioners on both global and regional levels.”

Aliaksandr Vadziany, EAG Administrator, added: “At the domestic level, it is of high importance those financial intelligence units, prosecutors, ministries of interior and other law enforcement and investigation authorities coordinate their efforts more effectively.”

Expert speakers from the USA, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and international organizations and training institutions: UNODC, EAG, Egmont Group, World Bank, Basel Institute on Good Governance, International Training and Methodology Centre for Financial Monitoring, will share their knowledge and expertise.

The workshop received funding support from the United States of America.