OSCE Mission to Serbia, U.S. Embassy support training course to strengthen prosecutors' skills in fighting financial crime

ZLATIBOR, 31 March 2011 – Some 30 prosecutors from Serbia's anti-corruption units today began discussing the use of forensic accounting in financial investigations at a training course organized jointly by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the U.S. Department of Justice.

This three-day  course aims to help the authorities better combat financial crime and prepare for the implementation of  Serbia's newly amended Criminal Procedure Code, which tasks prosecutors with leading investigations. The course focuses on practical matters related to gathering and analyzing financial data that could be related to money laundering, corruption or other financial crime. It also looks at how to prepare and present cases related to financial crime. 

“This course will help prosecutors utilize financial data to build cases. It is part of the OSCE Mission to Serbia's work to improve the Serbian authorities' ability to investigate cases of corruption, money laundering and other financial crime,” said the OSCE Economic Transparency Adviser, Mato Meyer.

Kendall Day, U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Corruption Adviser, added: “Serbia’s success in combating corruption and financial crime rests with the ability of investigators to utilize forensic accounting methods to follow the money. Oftentimes, successful prosecution of corruption and other financial crime cases rests on evidence gathered from financial data.”

Experts from the Financial Intelligence Unit of Serbia’s Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry's Financial Investigation Unit, the National Bank and the Organized Crime Special Prosecutor’s Office as well as a certified forensic accountant and a bankruptcy expert are teaching the course, which includes a case study.