The Council of Europe and the European Union launched, in co-operation with national partners, the project "Enhancing the anti-money laundering and asset recovery regime in the Republic of Moldova", part of the third phase of the Partnership for Good Governance. The project’s kick-off and first Technical Project Steering Committee meeting was held on 29 March 2023. The event hosted partners and key stakeholders, including representatives from General Prosecution Office and law enforcement agencies, National Anticorruption Centre (including CARA), Office for Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering (FIU), Public Service Agency (PSA), Financial Institutions, Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).
The intervention represents one of the six projects that constitute the third phase of the joint program of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Partnership for Good Governance" intended to provide support to the Eastern Partnership in the fight against economic crime. The project aims to provide assistance in implementing the country's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing reform agenda, while addressing issues highlighted by the Council of Europe's anti-money laundering monitoring bodies.
Within the proposed timeframe 2023-2026, the Project aims to provide the following support:
- Improve the exchange of information between national authorities for the purpose of combating money laundering (ML), the financing of terrorism (FT) and the use of financial information;
- Strengthten the capacities for the application of ML and FT prevention measures based on the identified risks;
- Expand the access to reliable and up-to-date information on beneficial owners and a consolidated mechanism to prevent the use of legal entities in criminal activity;
- Raise awareness of controls in the field of combating ML and FT, appropriate to the context of the movement of refugees;
- Improve the capacities of the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) to conduct parallel financial investigations and manage seized assets.
Keynote speakers in the opening session of the Launching Conference were: Mr. Evgeni EVGENIEV, Head of Unit, Economic Crime and Cooperation Division, Ms. Giulia RE, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, and Ms. Irina CRUCERU, Program Manager, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova. They stressed the importance of inter-institutional cooperation and building on the previous efforts in the field of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing in the Republic of Moldova in order to foster better progress and sustainable results in these fields.
This activity was organised within the framework of the project "Enhancing the anti-money laundering and asset recovery regime in the Republic of Moldova", co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe, in their Partnership for Good Governance III 2023-2027.