On 23-25 September 2019, PECK II Project organised a study visit for Kosovo* authorities to Her Majesty’s Treasury (London, United Kingdom). The aim of the visit was to discuss good practices with UK counterparts in the area of fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism, and more specifically, issues identified as in need of further strengthening by the 2018 PECK II AML/CFT Assessment, including financial supervision, national risk assessment, beneficial ownership, international cooperation, confiscation/asset recovery and terrorism financing. During the meetings participants had an opportunity to hear about the benefits of cooperation between law enforcement and the private sector namely banks as a high risk sector for money laundering. This forum which enables quick access to information has resulted in prosecution of major money laundering cases in UK and was seen as a good example to follow in Kosovo* as well. An interesting exchange between participants from Kosovo* and UK peers was in respect to confiscation of proceeds of crime, which continues to be a problematic issue in Kosovo*. Throughout the meetings, case examples were presented to participants reflecting on good practices with fighting money laundering and terrorist financing in UK.
Meetings were assessed as highly beneficial for future legislative and institutional reform efforts. The Council of Europe will continue to provide further support to Kosovo* authorities in this regard.