On the 25th of February 2021, the CyberSouth project organised a Regional Workshop on interagency cooperation on the search, seizure and confiscation of on-line crime proceeds, following an event on the same theme from the 1st of July 2020. Almost 50 participants, representing law enforcement agencies, judges and prosecutors, and the Financial Investigation Units dealing with money laundering on the internet, from the five priority countries, attended this workshop.
The goal of this meeting was to familiarize the project countries with international standards on seizing cryptocurrencies, promoted by the Council of Europe’s Guide. Moreover, the regional workshop was an occasion to develop on the concepts of interagency cooperation, domestic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training on the search, seizure, and confiscation of online crime proceeds. The participants briefly introduced their capacities and challenges when dealing with cryptocurrencies.
The Workshop was rather interactive and enabled the CyberSouth project to better understand the countries’ needs, as well as existing national practices and legislative frameworks on seizing cryptocurrencies.
The CyberSouth will follow up with the project countries and making available the Arabic version of the Guide on Seizing Cryptocurrencies and will further support in assisting the countries with training activities and in the development of their national SOPs on this topic.
