EU AML/CFT Global Facility

GAFILAT Plenary
2022-07-25 - 2022-07-29 | Ecuador, Ecuador
The EU Global Facility is expanding further to Latin America !
At the end of last month, our Senior Expert on Justice Victoria Palau Tárrega took part in the GAFILAT plenary and Working Groups meetings which took place in Quito (Ecuador 🇪🇨).
Topics that were discussed in the meetings included Beneficial Ownership , cryptocurrency , art trafficking, illegal mining, assets recovery, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 as well as risk assessment on tax crime and legal entities, among others.
Bilateral meetings were held with the EU Global Facility partner countries Panama 🇵🇦 and Argentina 🇦🇷. In addition, Ecuador, Paraguay 🇵🇾 and Uruguay 🇺🇾 expressed their interest in receiving TA from the EU GF project.

Final drafting exercise with AMLU and the Judicial Council of Jordan
2022-07-29 - 2022-07-30 | Jordan
Final meeting of the drafting group to finalise the Judicial Manual on Financial investigations.
More coming soon

Participation to the Union of Arab Banks Conference in Amman
2022-08-15 - 2022-08-16 | Jordan
The EU Global Facility was in Jordan 🇯🇴 to partake in the Forum on ‘Compliance with International Standards on AML/CFT: Future and Challenges’ organised by the Central Bank of Jordan, the Union of Arab Banks (UAB Online) and the Association of Banks in Jordan.
Our Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans delivered a presentation of the project and of bilateral and thematic activities on Beneficial Ownership the Facility provides to partner countries and organisations.
For his part, Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud STIEN delivered a presentation on “Financial supervision, regulation and virtual assets : future and challenges”.
Held under the auspices of H.E. the Governor of the CBJ, Dr. Dr Adel Al Sharkas, the forum covered a number of topics related to AML/CFT including Targeted Financial Sanctions, arm proliferation financing, UBO, compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and data protection, among others.
In the margin of the conference, a coordination meeting was held between experts of the EU Global Facility and the high level steering committee tasked with implementing the IT solution for the BO Registration system in Jordan.
The committee is composed of representatives from The Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Unit, the Central Bank of Jordan, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and the Companies Control Department.

ESAAMLG Plenary
2022-08-28 - 2022-09-02 | Zambia, Zambia
The EU Global Facility in at the ESAAMLG Plenary in Livingstone, Zambia 🇿🇲 !
Our team, represented by Arnaud STIEN, Key Expert on Regulation/FIU and Mamuka Jgenti, Key Expert on Justice/CSOs, participated in the in 44th Task Force of the Senior Officials Plenary meeting in Livingston spanning from Sunday 28 August to Thursday 1 September 2022. The meeting was followed by the 5th ESSAAMLG AML/CFT Public-Private sector dialogue (PPSD) on virtual assets and the implementation of AML/CFT programmes in the ESSAMLG region.
On the Agenda for the EU Global Facility:

✔︎ Participation in the Technical Assistance Coordination Forum where the bilateral and regional activities conducted by the EU GF in the region will be discussed in addition to forthcoming events.
✔︎Liaison with the delegations from partner countries with which the EU GF is already engaged.
✔︎ The EUGF will also follow up on the work achieved by the ESAAMLG, such as the publication of the regional survey on de-risking/correspondent banking, which was the topic of the regional conference organised by the EUGF in May 2022 in Mauritius.

The EU Global Facility is pleased to note that a number of TA activities implemented in partner states -as well as upcoming ones- have been reflected in the documents adopted by the ESAAMLG. This constitutes a proof of our strong and sustainable #collaboration with the #ESAAMLG and third countries.
#Zambia 🇿🇲

Special Note
The EU Global Facility on AML/CFT warmly congratulates Mrs Fikile Zitha for her election as new Executive Secretary of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Mrs Zitha was officially elected by the Council of Ministers of ESAAMLG at its 22nd meeting.
In the name of the entire Global Facility team, we would like to congratulate our trusted partner Mrs ZITHA for this new function and we wish her all the success in her new endeavours.
The project also thanks Dr. Eliawony Kisanga, outgoing Executive Secretary, for his tireless efforts to strengthen ESAAMLG’s work throughout the years and for the excellent co-operation he helped establish with the EU Global Facility.

Scoping mission to Kyrgyzstan
2022-09-05 - 2022-09-07 | Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
This scoping mission to Kyrgyzstan aims to assess the country’s request for technical assistance with regards to AML/CFT.
It will be conducted by our experts Mamuka Jgenti and Jens Madsen, who will meet with local stakeholders such as the State Financial Intelligence Service, the General Prosecutor, Ministry of Justice or the National Bank.
A coordination meeting with the EU funded project LEICA is also planned in the premises of the EU Delegation.

Joint regional conference on BO in Zambia
2022-09-13 - 2022-09-15 | Zambia, Zambia
Press Release
Regional conference on beneficial ownership gathers 18 African countries representatives in Zambia
Lusaka, 13 September 2022 – The EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) on Tuesday,13th September 2022 kicked off a regional event on Beneficial Ownership (BO) in the field of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing, in collaboration with the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Secretariat and the Financial Intelligence Centre of the Republic of Zambia (FIC).
Held under the title “Regional Workshop on Enhancing Beneficial Ownership Frameworks: Evolving Technical Standard and their Effective Implementation”, the three-day event is witnessing the participation of 80 representatives from 18 countries of the African continent, as well as a number of attendees online.
In her opening remarks, Acting Director General of the FIC, Liya Tembo commended a “timely workshop that represents a key milestone towards improved systems to tackle corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and terrorism financing in the ESAAMLG region”. She emphasised the need for enhanced cooperation and shared BO Information related to financial and economic crimes, encouraging countries to “build systems and learn about what other countries are doing to change legislation, how they maintain accurate and update BO information and how this information should be shared with stakeholders in the value chain of AML/CFT regime.”
For his part, EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte, welcomed the participation of representatives from 18 countries, saying “it is particularly impressive to witness the attendance of so many countries, which shows African nations’ committment to the enhancement of beneficial ownership frameworks within their respective jurisdictions. I am confident that these three days of exchanges will yield great results with regards to transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements.”
The workshop, which will consist of interactive exchanges and thematic presentations, will allow participants to exchange best practices and further deepen their expertise on BO-related matters.
“Due to the current challenges faced by countries in understanding the issues of BO, the ESAAMLG is having 18 of its member countries participate in this important event aimed at building more awareness on how countries can comply with the Financial Action Task Force’s standards on BO and how to implement relevant measures. Our Secretariat is confident that the workshop will go a long way in assisting members to come up with effective systems to handle BO,” stated Expert Joseph Jagada from the ESAAMLG secretariat.
The conference is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered by the EU GF-AML/CFT to third countries around the world. Demand driven and tailored made, the support is provided on a bilateral, regional and thematic basis. As of September 2022, the project has delivered bilateral assistance to 16 countries globally.

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The regional workshop “Enhancing Effectiveness of Beneficial Ownership Frameworks: Evolving Technical Standard and their Effective Implementation” will take place in a hybrid format (onsite and online) on 13-15 September 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia.
The regional event is co-organised by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT, the ESAAMLG Secretariat and the Financial Intelligence Centre of the Republic of Zambia (FIC).
The workshop has been designed to allow participants to exchange and further their expertise in the following areas :

The FATF and EU standards related to beneficial ownership and the transparency of legal persons (LP) and legal arrangements (LA),
The importance of country-wide assessments of the ML/TF risks associated with LP/LA as well, the methodology developed by the Global Facility and case studies presented by Ghana, Mauritius and the United Kingdom,
The role (public) beneficial ownership registers is expected to play in future AML/CFT frameworks, the Global Facility’s methodology for their implementation as well as country case studies,
The role of FI/DNFBP in ensuring the availability and accessibility of beneficial ownership information within a jurisdiction,
The practical tools and solutions available to supervisors to design and implement risk-based supervision strategies on beneficial ownership identification/verification obligations,
The practical considerations and concrete actions a jurisdiction can take when implementing a ML/TF risk assessment of LP/LA, engaging in a ESAAMLG Mutual Evaluation and/or implementing an FATF/ICRG Action Plan.

Onsite training for Regulators on Rec 8 in Turkiye
2022-09-19 - 2022-09-23 | Turkey, Turkey
Following initial work conducted by the EU Global Facility online in the past month, the collaboration with Turkiye steps up, with an onsite mission conducted by a group of key experts from the EU GF.
Some 100 auditors from the General Directorate of Relations with Civil Society have convened to the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkiye to partake in a 3-day training on the review and analysis of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8. The training will specifically focus on the existing standards in Turkiye and the good practices in other states.
The event was officially opened on Tuesday 20 September by the Deputy Governor of Balikesir region, the Director General of the General Directorate on Relations with the Civil Society, the Head of Political Section of the EU Delegation in Ankara and the EU GF Key Expert on Justice/CSOs Mamuka Jgenti.
Ultimately, the event will aim to delve deeper into the topic of Rec 8, discuss challenges and lessons learnt before putting forward an approach for more effective national and cross border beneficial ownership disclosure frameworks.

EU GF/CEPOL regional conference on REC 8 in Tunisia
2022-10-10 - 2022-10-12 | Tunisie, Tunisia
Today, Monday 10 October 2022, the EU Global Facility kicked off a three-day regional workshop in Tunis 🇹🇳 on the implementation of the FATF Recommendation 8 for the representatives of Law Enforcement Agencies and CSOs from the MENA region.
The regional workshop is co-organised with CEPOL and the UNOCT with the active involvement of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF.
Titled “Countering Financing Terrorism and Risk Assessment of the NPO Sector”, the event is also witnessing the participation of representatives from Argentina, Türkiye and the Republic of Moldova.
“The co-organised nature of this event, as well as the audience representing various players engaged in the implementation of FATF Rec 8, embody the approach followed by the EU GF to ensure dialogue and coordination between parties. These are pre-requisites for the effective implementation of the requirements of said Recommendation,” said EU GF Team Leader David Hotte in his opening remarks.
The workshop was opened with the statements by the co-organisers, as well as the EU Delegation in Tunis and the representatives of the host country.
The programme of the regional workshop will be built around a number of thematic areas, namely:

– Actual CFT trends in the NPO sector
– The NPO sector Risk Assessment process
– Data collection
– Assessing Inherent Risk

IO 5 workshop in Panama
2022-10-10 - 2022-10-14 | Panama, Panama
Public and Private sector Beneficial Ownership training in Panama
Enhancing capacity and coordination of AML/CFT actors
Panama City, 10-13 October 2022 – A capacity building training on “Implementation, Management and Use of the Beneficial Ownership Registration System” was delivered this week by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT in cooperation with the National Commission against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC) of Panama and the Superintendencia de Sujetos no Financieros, as part of a program aimed at supporting the country’s sustained efforts to strengthen its AML/CFT system.
This event included various stakeholders of the beneficial ownership disclosure cycle in Panama, including Supervisors and competent authorities (e.g., UAF, DGI, Public Registry, Supervision Authorities), the SSNF, Resident agents and other DNFBPs.
This series of events witnessed the attendance of the Vice-Minister of Finance, Jorge Almengor, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marta Elida Gordón, the Superintendent of the SSNF, Dayra Carrizo Castillero and the Charge d’Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Panama, Adolfo Campos.
Opening the weeklong event, the Vice-minister of Finance of Panama, Jorge Almengor, stated: “ “We reiterate our country’s commitment, which is shown by our concrete actions to strengthen the money laundering and terrorist financing prevention system,”. Almengor highlighted that the presentation of the Guide is generated as part of the implementation of Law No. 129 of March 17, 2020, which creates the Single Private System for the Registry of Final Beneficiaries of Legal Entities and its regulatory Decrees.
Vice-Minister Gordón emphasized that “(The) initiatives such as this Guide, are part of the fundamental building blocks of the regulatory and operational reforms which allow us to guarantee the integrity and transparency of all legal persons and arrangements throughout the country, in accordance with the international standards which we have committed to ».
For its part, the SSNF underlined the importance of the work undertaken by Panama and SSNF over the last few years to achieve delisting from the FATF list. “It has involved the establishment of a legal framework in line with international standards, but also the development of tools to assist the private sector and resident agents in their work of identifying, verifying and registering beneficial owners,” explained Dayra Carrizo, Superintendent of SSNF.
She added: “The effectiveness of the mechanisms put in place in Panama depends on the commitment of all stakeholders, and noted the importance resident agents are playing in the institutional set-up of Panama for which they are a key component. These workshops aimed to strengthen the basis for coordination between these stakeholders which commitment is paramount for Panama to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the measures taken to ensure the availability and accessibility of BO information in Panama.”
Over the course of four days, more than 500 participants attended the training onsite and online.
“This demonstrate the huge interest and commitment in the subject matter, and is the materialisation of the efforts undertaken by Panama with regards to its compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) requirements related to transparency of legal persons and arrangements, amongst the most challenging FATF Recommendation, and one for which the effectiveness of the measures taken is likewise most difficult to establish and demonstrate,” stated Alexandre Taymans, Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership for the EU Global Facility.
Experts from the SSNF and the Global Facility delivered sessions covering a wide range of topics including the FATF and EU standards, the newly published SSNF’s Beneficial Ownership Guidance, the practical functioning of the Panamanian BOR, the role and strategy of the SSNF to guarantee compliance with the Beneficial Ownership identification and registration requirements. The sessions also included various case studies and examples that fostered discussion between participants on how, in practice, beneficial owners should be identified and their information verified.

IO 7 workshop in Panama
2022-10-11 - 2022-10-14 | Panama, Panama
Panama receives several training on money laundering, tax offence from EU-funded Global Facility
Panama City, 10 October 2022 – The EU-funded Global Facility on AML/CFT on Monday launched a series of training on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) in Panama City, which aim to support the country’s efforts to enhance its AML/CFT system.
Co-organised with the National Commission against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC) of Panama, the training will span over the course of three days, targeting some 50 participants from various Panamean entities.
Experts from Andorra, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Ukraine will deliver sessions on the topic of tax crime committed abroad as well as the importance of international cooperation in combating those crimes.
Opening the event, the presiding magistrate María Eugenia López Arias highlighted such an important event and thanked for sparing no effort in designing and implementing this training and support program, in obtaining a product made to measure for the needs of our country, taking into account all the angles that are generated by the inter-institutional participation required by the effective war against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
“The Republic of Panama, without a doubt, is determined to sharpen the pencil in its strategies and rectify the deficiencies, so that the crimes and activities of money laundering are investigated and their authors prosecuted and subjected to effective, proportional and dissuasive”, maintained the presiding magistrate.
For his part, Vice-minister of Finance of Panama, Jorge Almengor, stated:“Panama has the capacity to investigate and prosecute tax crime commited abroad, as well as to provide constructive and timely international cooperation. Since Panama considered tax offenses as a predicate offense of ML in 2019, various investigations have been initiated, generated either by the use of UAF products, international cooperation, the Task Force or by the Public Ministry based on the Action Protocol. This reflects the good inter-institutional coordination and effectiveness of our system.”
The training is part of a series of activities organised by the EU Global Facility to support Panama in strengthening its AML/CFT frameworks and upholding its compliance standards in this regard. More specifically, the technical assistance focuses on Panama’s fulfilment of the immediate results 5 and 7 of the Financial Action Task Force as adapted to the needs and priorities established by Panama.
“Organised crime and terrorism threaten our peaceful coexistence and it is on the basis of national and international collaboration that we must combat illicit movements of capital under a clear and joint vision, based on the experience of the international organisations that promote a state of welfare and justice,” said Adolfo Campos, Charge d’Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Panama in his welcoming remarks.

Virtual assets National risk assessment methodology in Jordan
2022-10-23 - 2022-10-24 | Jordan
“There is no right or wrong way to develop a national risk assessment methodology on virtual assets. The only right way is the one that WORKS for your country,” says our Italian expert specialised on the investigation of complex financial crime schemes (cryptocurrency, hacking incidents, ransomware scams).
She speaks during Day 2 of our workshop on Virtual Assets national risk assessment methodology in Amman, Jordan 🇯🇴.
The two-day event witnesses the participation of representatives from the Central Bank, the Judicial Council, the Public Security Directorate, The Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Unit and the Jordan Securities Commission, among others.
Led by our Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud Stien, the training is being delivered by Egyptian expert on virtual assets Amr Rashed as well as experts from Mauritius and Italy.
Topics covered during the workshop include:

–The status of virtual assets in Jordan
– FATF Requirements
– Risk Assessment of Virtual Assets building blocks
– The current state of VASPs in Jordan
– Stages of risk assessment
– Examples from other Risk Assessments
– The way forward with Jordan’s VA Risk Assessment

This training is part of a series of four activities organised in Amman this week, including a regional conference on “AML/CFT for Legal Professionals and Accountants” taking place on Tuesday 25 October 2022.

National conference on supervision of lawyers and accountants in Jordan
2022-10-25 - 2022-10-26 | Jordan
The EU AML/CFT Global Facility and the Jordanian National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Committee (NAMLCTFC) are organising a two-day workshop on “Training in AML/CFT for legal professionals and accountants”, targeted at some 90 participants from Jordan.
The workshop will be divided into two thematic days consisting of an outreach workshop on ML/TF for legal professionals and accountants. More specifically it will review how legal professions and accountants, and their self-regulated bodies, adequately apply AML/CFT preventive measures commensurate with their risks, and report suspicious transactions.
In the second day, a technical training for ML/TF self-regulated bodies will be delivered. It will tackle ways in which self-regulated bodies of legal professions and accountants supervise, monitor and regulate legal professions and accountants with AML/CFT requirements commensurate with their risks.
The objectives of the outreach programme are to ensure that:

o Operators in the regulated accountant and legal professional sectors become familiar with obligations such as KYC, customer due diligence, STRs reporting and the risk-based approach;
o Their self-regulated bodies become familiar with basics AML/CFT requirements, and their supervisory and monitoring tasks: supervision, monitoring of legal professions and accountants for compliance with AML/CFT requirements commensurate with their risks;
o The outreach programme is also designed as a pedagogical tool to enable the regulators to educate and support DNFBPs in understanding and implementing their obligations.

3rd Meeting of the High Level Experts Working Group
2022-10-25 - 2022-10-27 | Jordan
High level experts from the judiciary and financial intelligence fields will partake in a two-day meeting organised by the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) in cooperation with the Siracusa International Institute on criminal justice and human rights.
Held in Aqaba, Jordan, this will mark the third in a series of collaborative meetings held under the title “Assessing the scope and effectiveness of innovative legal approaches to money laundering (ML) investigations and asset recovery”.
This third edition of the event aimed at reviewing the replies received from different international institutions on the questionnaire elaborated during the previous meetings and shared with the relevant international fora.
Ultimately, these activities seek to lead to the production of a far-reaching study on existing good practice that alleviate the burden of proof in ML investigations and asset recovery procedures. The results of the study shall provide a valuable resource for the work of relevant global and regional institutions (e.g. FATF, FSRBs, EU and UN relevant structures etc.), as well as national authorities and justice sectors.

The Experts Working Group is part of a series of activities organised by the EU GF-AML/CFT and the Siracusa International Institute aimed at strengthening international judicial co-operation and the efficient application of existing MLA standards and international instruments by judges and prosecutors.

Workshop on Beneficial Ownership registers as new competent authorities in Malta
2022-10-26 - 2022-10-28 | Malta, Malta
Beneficial Ownership experts from EU convene in Malta for experts working group
Valetta, 28 October 2022 – The EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) on Wednesday 26th of October 2022 launched the second meeting of its Expert Working Group on the topic of “Beneficial Ownership Registers as Competent Authorities”, in cooperation with the Malta Business Registry (MBR).
Gathering 19 experts from 12 EU Member States, the session follows a kick off event that took place in Brussels in June 2022, where discussions revolved around the topics of Beneficial Ownership (BO) Registers evolving into competent authorities, which included discussion on verification of BO information, onsite supervision, typologies and trends analysis. Malta was represented by Dr Geraldine Spiteri Lucas from the MBR and Mr Alfred Zammit from the FIAU.
“Our ultimate goal is to ‘handbook’ tangible proposals and best practices that can be made available to stakeholders and jurisdictions who are seeking to build or enhance national beneficial ownership capabilities,” explained EU Global Facility Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans, noting that “the purpose of these sessions is to delve deeper into the topic, discuss challenges and lessons that can be learnt and applied for technical assistance to the benefit of the EU GF partner countries. This way we can put forward an approach for more effective national and cross border beneficial ownership disclosure frameworks.”
For her part Dr Geraldine Spiteri Lucas, MBR Chief Executive Officer, explained Malta’s experience in arriving where it is today, which is having an accurate and an up-to-date Beneficial Ownership Register. ‘The effectiveness of the BO Register revolved around accuracy and accessibility by competent authorities and subject persons. Most importantly, it is crucial to have all the entities work together hand in hand. It is indeed of great pleasure for Malta to have welcomed representatives from registries across Europe discussing a subject that is dominating amongst registers fora’ said Dr. Spiteri Lucas.
Alfred Zammit, Deputy Director at the Financial Intelligence Unit of Malta, explained that Beneficial Ownership registries are becoming an increasingly important component in the fight against ML/FT, but transitioning from a registry to a competent authority is easier said than done. Sharing best practice and exploring different forms of cooperation, including with FIUs and other authorities, is therefore very-much needed and a step that we and the community all stand to gain from.
Support to partner countries’ Beneficial Ownership frameworks is a key pillar of the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT’s work around the globe. So far, the project has assisted more than 11 jurisdictions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe at a bilateral level. A number of regional conferences was also organised to enhance international cooperation in this regard.

Workshop on ML and Financial Crimes Investigation Techniques for Representatives of the UAE Penal Chain
2022-11-15 - 2022-11-17 | The UAE, United Arab Emirates
“DEVELOPING INTELLIGENCE INTO EVIDENCE” is a workshop on Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Investigation Techniques for Representatives of the Penal Chain of the UAE.
Organised with the Ministry of Interior of the UAE, the activity gathers some 60 representatives from public prosecution, the FIU, police and the Ministry of Interior, among others.
This constitutes an innovative event conducted under the EU Global Facility’s Justice and LEA components. Cross-functional events are crucial to tackling AML/CFT, as they encompass numerous actors of the financial and investigation penal chain.
“Without intelligence, financial investigations cannot succeed. However, it is crucial for the judiciary and law enforcement agencies to collaborate to turn this intelligence into evidence admissible in court. This is why we are here today, to exchange and share information to ensure the best #cooperation in financial investigations,” said David Hotte, Team Leader of the EU GF during the opening session.
Opening speeches were also delivered by Brigadier Abdulaziz al Ahmed, deputy commander of the federal criminal police at MoI, chair of the national team in charge of money laundering investigations in the UAE, and Dr. Tariq Ahmed Al-Rashed from the Federal Public Prosecution.
Delivered by experts from Ireland and the Netherlands the workshop will cover a number of topics, including:

– Initial information in an investigation: Sources of initial information and intelligence (private citizens, security services)
– Sources of initial information and intelligence (private citizens, public services, security)
– Legislative Evidential and Intelligence requirements
– Use of intelligence in ML investigations: fictitious case study
– The seizure, conviction, and non-conviction-based confiscation of assets
– Asset Recovery – Disclosure in other jurisdictions

Joint Regional workshop on asset recovery for the justice sector of Central Asia states
2022-11-22 - 2022-11-25 | Kazhakstan
This workshop on “Development of the capacities of the Law Enforcement Agencies of the Central Asian Countries in the field of Terrorist Assets Tracing and Recovery” is co-organised by the EU Global Facility and the Law Enforcement in Central Asia (LEICA) project, in close cooperation with the UNODC Office in Kyrgyzstan.
The workshop will seek to improve the capacity of law enforcement agencies in the countries of Central Asia to effectively identify, search, trace and seizure assets intended for the activities of terrorists or terrorist groups.
More specifically:

– To provide information concerning best international practice in the field of detection, search, trace and seizure of assets intended for the activities of terrorists or terrorist groups
– To share practical experience in using the financial investigations tools needed to trace and seize terrorist assets, including financial and criminal intelligence, interagency cooperation and mutual assistance in criminal matters
– Significantly to improve the capacities of the LEA of Central Asian countries in the field of financial investigations focused on search, tracing and seizure of Terrorists Assets.
– To support to mitigate the vulnerabilities of the state institutions in the field of identification, search, trace and seizure of assets intended for the activities of terrorists or terrorist groups.

Launch of TACC in DRC
2022-11-30 - 2022-12-02 | DRC, Congo, Democratic Republic of the
This Wednesday 25 November 2022, the EU Global Facility is in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo for the implementation and kick-off of the Technical Assistance Coordination Committee (TACC).
This mission will include a drafting exercise of the Technical Assistance Matrix that will support the implementation of the FATF Action plan and the distribution of work among all technical assistance providers.
The formal “kick-off” meeting is foreseen on 1st December in Kinshasa.

Rec 8 training for regulators/authorities of Lesotho
2022-11-30 - 2022-12-02 | Lesotho, Lesotho
This week, upon the request of the authorities of Lesotho and following the European Commission’s approval, the EU Global Facility launched its very first technical assistance activity in Lesotho.
The relevant stakeholders from the African country will attend the online training over the next three days, which will cover standards and requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 on NPOs.
This is part of a series of technical assistance activities that the EU Global Facility provides to authorities and regulators of partner countries to help them strengthen their AML/CFT frameworks with regards to Not for Profit Organisations
This initial e-training will focus on

(i) Risk based supervision in the context of overall NPO regulation
(ii) How to set up a system of risk based NPO regulation including sector reviews, criteria and risk based focus and
(iii) Implementation of a risk based system.

Working visit on DNFBPs in the Seychelles
2022-12-06 - 2022-12-09 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
Yesterday, the EU Global Facility, led by Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud STIEN, kicked off a working visit in the Seychelles, which aims to deliver technical assistance to the competent authorities in charge of the supervision of the DNFBPs such as accountants, the gaming sector or legal professions.
In addition to training sessions, meetings were held with members of the Technical AMLCFT Coordination Committee (TACC), to support the effective coordination mechanism and the implementation of the national strategy on AML/CFT.
Entities involved encompassed the FIU, the Central Bank, Financial Services Authority, Anti-corruption Agency, Custom/revenue Authority, Seychelles Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the AMLCFT resident advisor.

Workshop for South Africa authorities/regulators on NPO Sectoral RA
2022-12-07 - 2022-12-09 | South Africa, South Africa
This workshop is targeted at the authorities and regulators from South Africa, with the aim of preparing the NPO Sectoral Risk Assessment.
It is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered to the partner country to help it improve its AML/CFT framework.

Workshop for the Seychelles' authorities/regulators on NPO Sectoral RA
2022-12-12 - 2022-12-14 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
This workshop is targeted at the authorities and regulators from the Seychelles, with the aim of preparing the NPO Sectoral Risk Assessment.
It is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered to the partner country to help it improve its AML/CFT framework.

Participation in the GAFILAT Plenary in Argentina
2022-12-12 - 2022-12-16 | Argentina, Argentina
Last week, our Senior Expert on Justice Victoria Palau represented the EU Global Facility at the GAFILAT Plenary in Buenos Aires, after a scoping mission conducted in Montevido.
Upon the invitation of the Latin and Central American FSRB, the EU Global Facility participated in the Plenary and the Working Group on Training and Development.
During the meeting, our expert presented the results of the joint regional Conference on Beneficial Ownership, which was jointly organised with GAFILAT in Panama last November.
In parallel to the sessions, she held bilateral meetings with representatives from Argentina, Paraguay 🇵🇾 and Ecuador 🇪🇨 as well as with other technical assistance providers operating in the region, including Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the International Monetary Fund, the OAS etc) to discuss coordination and potential synergies.

Financial investigations training in Turkiye
2022-12-19 - 2022-12-21 | Turkey, Turkey
Kick off of our first onsite training targeted at law enforcement in #Turkiye 🇹🇷.
Held in Istanbul to the benefit of representatives of the full penal chain involved in countering the financing of terrorism, the course will benefit officials from MASAK FIU, the Gendarmerie, the Turkish National Police, the judiciary, and Customs -among others- coming from all over the country.
During two and a half days, 80 participants will be trained by two experts from the Spanish National Police who will cover different aspects of financial investigations in the specific context of the fight against terrorism.

Training of NPOs on FATF Rec 8 requirements in Zambia
2022-12-19 - 2022-12-21 | Zambia, Zambia
The EU Global Facility concludes the year with an onsite activity in Lusaka, Zambia.
For the next three days, our experts will conduct a workshop to support Zambia in achieving better rating for the implementation of the requirements of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8, focused on NGOs/NPOs.
The course is attended by representatives of the Financial Intelligence Centre, relevant regulatory bodies of Zambia responsible for the NPO regulation, the National Bank, revenue authorities, the Zambian Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies, as well as representatives of local and international civil society organisations active in Zambia.

Onsite Training of NPOs on FATF Rec 8 requirements in Turkiye
2023-01-17 - 2023-01-18 | Turkey, Turkey
Today, the EU Global Facility organises its very first activity targeted at Turkish Not-for-Profit Organisations in Istanbul 🇹🇷!
This marks the very first onsite capacity building activity with representatives of the civil society in Turkiye, who are coming not only from Istanbul, but also from Ankara and other regions of the partner country.
Centered around the compliance with international requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Rec 8 on NPOs, this workshop is co-organised with the local Turkish NPO –TUSEV and the Global NPO Coalition on FATF.
It involves EU GF experts from the UK, the Netherlands and Georgia, who will spend two days covering topics ranging from consequences of the non-risk based implementation of Rec 8, risk assessment, self-regulation and joint advocacy strategies, among others.
This workshop is part of a series of technical assistance activities carried out by the EU Global Facility in Turkiye, as agreed as part of the workplan designed with the Turkish authorities in 2022.

LEA Financial Investigations Training in Turkiye
2023-01-18 - 2023-01-20 | Turkey, Turkey
A second activity kicks off in Turkiye this week. Along with our workshop for NPOs organised in Istanbul, the EU Global Facility is delivering a training for law enforcement officials in Ankara.
Held under the title “Recognising the nexus between Criminal and Terrorist networks and how they utilise profit from both legal and Illegal Activities”, the training involves different actors from the penal chain including MASAK (Financial Intelligence Unit), Police, Gendarmerie and the Judiciary.
Alongside our Key Expert on Law Enforcement Liam Ennis, two Irish experts will tackle topics related to terrorism in the financial context, namely understanding structures of terrorist groups, links between terrorist business models and crime and lone actor terrorism, among others.
The activity will actively involve the participants, who will be tasked with solving a fictitious case study related to terrorism, crime and money laundering in a designated context.
This workshop is part of a series of technical assistance activities carried out by the EU Global Facility in Turkiye, as agreed as part of the workplan designed with the Turkish authorities in 2022.

Launch of Technical Assistance Coordination Committee in Mozambique
2023-01-20 | Mozambique, Mozambique
The EU Global Facility on AML/CFT is in Maputo, Mozambique, to official launch the implementation of the Technical Assistance Coordination Committee (TACC).
The formal TACC “kick-off” meeting is foreseen on Friday 20th January in the premises of the European Union Delegation. The event will be attended by Mozambican authorities and representatives of technical assistance providers (IMF, UNODC and World Bank, among others).
The EU Global Facility is currently in #Mozambique 🇲🇿 to launch the Technical Assistance Coordination Committee (TACC).
The TACC aims to support and coordinate the country’s efforts to improve its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) efforts
💡 In October 2022, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) included Mozambique in the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, known as the “grey list”.
Mozambique was as such assessed as having strategic deficiencies in its national AML/CFT regime.
Speaking on behalf of the international partners at the TACC launch ceremony, the European Union Ambassador for Mozambique, Antonino Maggiore, highlighted the direct impact of #moneylaundering and terrorist financing on the incidents taking place in Cabo Delgado, reassuring the partners’ commitment to work with the Government towards a timely depart from the list, according to FurtherAfrica.

Participation in the OACPS workshop on AMLCFT
2023-01-26 - 2023-01-30 | Mauritius, Mauritius
The EU Global Facility on AML/CFT, represented by its Team Leader David Hotte, is taking part in the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) workshop on Tax Governance, Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism in Mauritius 🇲🇺.
Tackling the topic of Tax Governance and Compliance with AML/CFT, the five-day event kicked off yesterday, in the presence of H.E Mahen Kumar Seerutum, Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance of Mauritius.
David Hotte was invited to present the work conducted by the EU Global Facility across the ACP region, including its three-year involvement in Mauritius, alongside other technical assistance partners.
During his presentation, he emphasised the importance of subsidiarity in technical assistance, and the need for complementarity between all EU-funded projects and TA providers in partner countries.
“We need to all work together to best support our partners in the region, avoiding duplication of expertise and delivering the most tailored assistance to each country,” he said, insisting that “whilst some challenges are shared by countries in the region, there are also stark specificities that require our experts’ most dedicated attention to ensure efficiency and sustainability of support.”
In parallel to the conference, he also met with EU ambassadors from a number of partner countries in the region, including:
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago , where the EU Global Facility will conduct a scoping mission in the coming weeks to assess the country’s needs with regards to AML/CFT
🇯🇲 Jamaica, where the project has been delivering technical assistance activities since October 2020
🇭🇹 Haïti, whose authorities have been soliciting the EU Global Facility for future support on AML/CFT
As well as 🇲🇿 Mozambique, which witnessed the successful launch of the Technical Assistance Coordination Committee (TACC) last week in the premises of the European Union Delegation in Maputo. The event was attended by Mozambican authorities and representatives of technical assistance providers (IMF, UNODC and World Bank, among others).

ASEAN Joint Regional Workshop on FATF Rec 8 in Indonesia
2023-03-08 - 2023-03-10 | Indonesia, Indonesia
Today, the EU Global Facility, together with the EU-funded ESIWA project supported the organisation of The ASEAN Secretariat Regional Forum Workshop on Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩.
Supported by the European Union, the event is co-organised at the initiative of the authorities of Indonesia and LAO PDR.
Our experts together with the APG representative will participate in the three-day workshop focusing on the state of implementation of the FATF Recommendation 8 on NPOs in the region.
They will also discuss the best practices, as well as the challenges the jurisdictions are facing globally regarding the compliance with the said Recommendation.

Workshop on Regional Eastern Partnership and Europe AML/CFT Multi-stakeholder in Warsaw
2023-04-04 - 2023-04-05 | Poland, Poland
Today, we launch the 2nd in a series of Regional Consultations on the revisions of the Best Practices Paper on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 in Warsaw, #Poland 🇵🇱
Civil society representatives from 13 countries of the Regional Eastern Partnership and Europe will spend two days discussing the challenges and best practices in the implementation of this recommendation in the regions. Officials from MONEYVAL are also in attendance, along with representatives of the Polish authorities.
Following the first consultation in Buenos Aires last month, the EU Global Facility, in co-operation with the Global NPO Coalition on FATF and in co-ordination with the respective FSRBs will continue organising those regional NPO consultations around the world, with sessions scheduled to take place in
🌍 Amman (Middleeast and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) region)
🌍 Cape-Town (esaamlg org, GABAC and GIABA regions)
🌏 South-East Asia (APG region)
