Financial investigations are essential in combating money laundering and associated predicate offenses, as they enable the detection and disruption of complex financial schemes used to disguise the origins of illicit funds. These investigations help identify and prosecute those involved in money laundering activities and dismantle the underlying criminal operations. However, financial investigations are not always used to their full scale, considering the insufficient capacity in law enforcement to carry out these complex enquiries. 

In order to promote an active use of financial investigations among law enforcement representatives in Armenia, the Council of Europe organised a two-day training event aimed at enhancing the competences of investigators and operative-intelligence officers of the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia to investigate corruption and money laundering offences. Participants engaged in dynamic group exercises and discussions while tailored case studies advanced knowledge on collecting intelligence and developing evidence in economic crime cases. The event also aimed at discussing the use of other detection tools in addition to intelligence information, such as information received from other jurisdictions, referrals from national authorities and Financial Intelligence Unit, as a basis for launching investigations.

Additional focus areas included typologies and tools for detecting money laundering and corruption, national inter-agency cooperation mechanisms, the use of digital currencies and cryptocurrencies in laundering proceeds of crime, and the importance of international cooperation in financial investigations and asset recovery.

This event is part of the European Union and the Council of Europe joint programme “Partnership for Good Governance”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in the framework of the Project on “Enhancing national capacities for effective prevention and fight against economic crime in Armenia”.