EU AML/CFT Global Facility

ML/Tax crime workshop for Panama
2022-07-19 - 2022-07-21 | Panama, Panama
This activity replies to Panama’s request of technical assistance on IO 7, specifically to their priority of investigating money laundering with a tax offense committed abroad as a predicate offense.
The activity will be a first approach to this matter based on the experience from another jurisdiction, that of Andorra, which has had a similar evolution to the Panamanian one. A prosecutor from Andorra specialised in AML/CFT (and former FIU official) will explain the experience of Andorra: the evolution and situation of jurisdictions that have had a recent definition of tax crime in their jurisdictions and the changes and challenges that this has implied and still implies, in the internal and international sphere.
On the other hand, the activity will refer to the strategies that can be carried out in relatively small jurisdictions or of moderate dimensions in relation to the prosecution of money laundering from tax crime, particularly in the case of regional or international financial centres.

Press Release
EU Global Facility, National Commission Against Money Laundering of Panama hold training on tax offense investigation
Panama City/Brussels, 19 July 2022 – A virtual training on “Investigation of Money Laundering with a tax offense committed abroad as a predicate offense” was launched today, through a collaboration between the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) and the National Commission against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC) of Panama.
Targeted at representatives of the judiciary, Public Prosecution, the Directorate of Judicial Investigation, the Financial Analysis Unit -UAF, the General Directorate of Revenues. Ministry of Economy and Finance and, as a national coordinator, the CNBC, the training is witnessing the participation of some 50 officials over the course of three days.
“In the last years, Panama took a number of important steps to conform its tax system to the highest international standards. The EU welcomes Panama’s reforms and progress on enhancing its legal and transparency standards by providing technical assistance through the EU GF-AML/CFT,” said Adolfo Campos, Political Adviser at the EU Delegation in Panama in his welcoming remarks.
For her part, Isabel Yadira Vecchio, Technical Secretary of the CNBC of Panama and National Coordinator for GAFILAT, stated: “Panama has developed constant strategies to promote, protect and defend our economy from the challenges it faces, as part of the changing world in which we live. In this sense, we have redoubled efforts with a view to promote not only regulatory changes at the forefront of the global movement, but also to achieve positive and tangible results that guarantee we can strengthen our AML system.”
The online training is part of a series of activities organised by the EU GF-AML/CFT to support Panama in rectifying deficiencies in 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.
The virtual course is intended to be followed by an onsite activity later on, where the issues of ML and tax crime committed abroad as well as the importance of international cooperation in combating those crimes will be addressed.

Onsite mission to Morocco: DNFBPs, strategic approach and TACC
2022-07-19 - 2022-07-22 | Morocco, Morocco
Morocco welcomes technical assistance on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing
Rabat, 20 July 2022 – The Ministry of Economy and Finances of Morocco on Tuesday welcomed a delegation from the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT), which worked on the strenghtenging of the Kingdom’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist strategy.
Hosted by the Treasury and External Affairs Directorate of the Ministry, the two-day mission began with a strategic meeting held in the presence of representatives from the Interior Ministry, the Central Bank of Morocco, the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), the Insurance and Social Security Supervisory Authority (ACAPS), the Foreign Exchange Office and the Financial Intelligence Unit (ANRF).
The initial meeting aimed to discuss the technical assistance request formulated by the Moroccan authorities to the EU Global Facility, which seeks to strengthen initiatives that meet the requirements of the FATF action plan for supervisors, particularly in the non-financial sector. Notably, support was requested for the accountancy professions (chartered accountants and certified accountants), the legal professions (lawyers, notaries, adouls), dealers in precious stones and metals and traders in antiques or works of art, casinos and gambling establishments, as well as real estate agents.
The EU Global Facility began delivering online technical assistance activities to Morocco in November 2020, focusing on the topics on beneficial ownership and cryptocurrencies. The July 2022 onsite mission is expected to be followed by a number of technical training, workshops and conferences, where the issues of AML/CFT in the non-financial sector will be addressed.

Scoping mission to the Seychelles
2022-07-24 - 2022-07-28
This scoping mission to the Seychelles aims to evaluate the current state of play in the country with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing and the potential areas of technical assistance to be delivered by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT.
During a variety of meetings, participants from both sides will discuss the action plan for the future of the technical assistance, which will include a specific focus on Recommendation 8.

UAE Workshop on Virtual Assets Investigation
2022-07-25 - 2022-07-29 | The UAE, United Arab Emirates
UAE, EU Global Facility conclude cryptocurrency investigations training course
Abu Dhabi, 29 July 2022 – The UAE authorities and the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) on Friday concluded a weeklong training workshop on “Cryptocurrency investigations”.
Targeted at 50 individuals from the UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Law Enforcement agencies, Public Prosecution, Ministry of Interior and State Security, the advanced course aimed to promote cooperation and support cross functional expertise between these national competent authorities.
“New technologies, products, and related services have the potential to spur financial innovation and efficiency and improve financial inclusion, but they also create new opportunities for criminals and terrorists to launder their proceeds or finance their illicit activities,” explained EU GF Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud Stien, adding “virtual assets represent an attractive economic opportunity for jurisdictions, but also bring along a number of challenges and risks that must be understood and managed for their safe integration within a country’s economy.”
Over the course of four days, sessions covered a wide range of topics, namely “Introduction to cryptocurrencies”, “Blockchain and Mining”, “the Darknet”, “Tracing Bitcoins”, “Seizure and Confiscation”, “Non Fungible Tokens” and “Policy Requirements”, among others.
The training sought to enhance the skills and tools of relevant authorities in investigating virtual assets related concerns, notably by understanding the practical expectations to conduct such types of investigations.
The training is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered by the EU Global Facility to the UAE aimed at improving the country’s AML/CFT frameworks. Started in April 2021, activities have focused on parallel investigations, the use of informants, turning intelligence into evidence, financial supervision, the judiciary and FIU core functions.

Learn more about our work with the UAE HERE

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

Scoping mission to South Africa
2022-08-01 - 2022-08-06 | South Africa, South Africa
On 10 August 2022 , the EU Global Facility team, led by Team Leader David Hotte, concluded its scoping mission to Pretoria, South Africa. 🇿🇦
We would like to commend our main interlocutor – Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) – for organising very interactive and productive initial interactions with most agencies responsible for the efficient functioning of AML/CFT system in the country.
In the presence of the EU Delegation to Pretoria, our Key Experts Mamuka Jgenti and Alexandre Taymans reviewed the current state of play with the South African counterparts, and discussed the needs they expressed with regards to AML/CFT technical assistance.
The two parties also assessed the technical assistance steps to be taken accordingly.
“The EU Global Facility is looking forward to working with the partner state, in close coordination with other EU-funded initiatives active in the region and South Africa, as well as other relevant TA providers,” concluded David Hotte.

Argentina coordination meeting
2022-08-11 | Argentina, Argentina
Today, we officially kickstart our technical assistance activities with #Argentina 🇦🇷 after a successful coordination meeting!
Following a request for technical assistance from the country, the EU Global Facility on 11 August 2022 held formal discussions with representatives of various structures of Buenos Aires responsible for the compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 on NPOs
The EU Global Facility’s engagement and cooperation with Argentina will also cover issues such as supervision of financial and DNFSP and support to the FIU, improving effectiveness of financial investigation and criminal justice system, beneficial ownership and virtual assets.
“We have agreed to reactivate our technical assistance to Argentina and to begin as soon as possible with activities related to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8,” noted EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte, expressing his keenness on expanding the project’s geographic scope to more Latin American countries.

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.

Introductory e-training for the Seychelles regulators/authorities on the FATF Rec 8
2022-08-16 - 2022-08-19 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
On 16 August 2022, (only) three weeks after the scoping mission the EU Global Facility team conducted in the Seychelles 🇸🇨, we are pleased to announce the launch of our technical assistance engagement with the partner state.
In co-operation with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Seychelles, a four-day capacity building e-training kicked off today, targeted at the authorities and regulators on the implementation of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8.
“I am very happy to see our technical assistance starting only three weeks after our first mission there,” said EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte in his welcoming remarks, adding “this is only the first activity and we are sure I will mark the start of a great cooperation, with many more activities to come.”
This training is part of the workplan elaborated by the EU GF in close collaboration with the authorities of the Seychelles; it covers various AML/CFT related topics on which the project shall focus its engagement with the partners state.
The EU Global Facility will also remain in touch with the other technical assistance providers to ensure the synergies in joint efforts.
Next week, an initial e-training on the FATF Recommendation 8 shall be delivered for the selected representatives of the civil society from the partner state.

Scoping mission to the DRC
2022-08-22 - 2022-08-26 | DRC, Congo, Democratic Republic of the
The EU Global Facility’s scoping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩 kicked off this morning in Kinshasa, first of three days of exchanges with local authorities involved in the country’s anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
Starting with a meeting with the CENAREF this morning, the discussions covered the objectives and expectations of the partner country, as well as an assessment of the state pf play of AML/CFT reforms ongoing in the DRC.
Opening the session on behalf of the #EU Global Facility, Team Leader David Hotte, highlighted the importance of the close partnership with the African country and of the development of a sound and sustainable roadmap and workplan to support these reforms.
“These next few days will be crucial in understanding the needs of our partner state’s institutions, including ministries, the Central Bank, etc while ensuring the absence of duplication of technical assistance provided by other partner projects,” he stated.
Later during the day, the EU Global Facility team met with the EU Delegation to the DRC, where they discussed the modalities of the upcoming technical assistance.
This scoping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo aims to evaluate the current state of play in the country with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing and the potential areas of technical assistance to be delivered by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT.
During a variety of meetings, participants from both sides will discuss the action plan for the future of the technical assistance, which will include a specific focus on BO, Recommendation 8 and Justice, among others

Introductory e-training for the Seychelles' NPOs on the FATF Rec 8
2022-08-22 - 2022-08-26 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
This e-training is the second activity implemented in the Seychelles, following an introductory e-training carried out earlier this month. This training will focus on the implementation of the FATF Recommendation 8, the full engagement required by countries and thus the awareness of the issue by local NPOs.
This constitutes the first in a series of capacity building activities for the CSOs in the Seychelles. This series will carry an introductory objective, including to prepare the country’s NPO community for the follow up measures to be taken within the framework of the EU Global Facility’s assistance to the Seychelles under its CSO component.
“I am very happy to see our technical assistance starting only three weeks after our first mission there,” said EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte in his welcoming remarks, adding “these are only the first activities and we are sure I will mark the start of a great cooperation, with many more activities to come.”
This session comes following the productive scoping mission our team conducted last month, where a workplan of the EU GF’s engagement with the Seychelles was elaborated in co-ordination with the authorities of Seychelles. The workplan covers various AML/CFT topics on which the GFT shall focus in its engagement with the partners state. The GFT shall also remain in touch with the other TA providers to ensure the synergies in joint efforts.

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.

55th Anniversary of the Bank of Mauritius
2022-09-08 - 2022-09-11 | Mauritius, Mauritius
The EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte delivered a presentation on AML/CFT Developments at the Emerald Jubilee (55th Anniversary) of the Bank of Mauritius 🇲🇺 this week, alongside representatives from 20 Central Banks from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Held under the title “Adapting to our Future”, the event was inaugurated by Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Mauritius’ Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Renganaden Padayachy and the Governor of the BoM, Harvesh Seegolam.
In his welcoming remarks, Mr Seegolam insisted: “there is no one-size-fits-all solution as each country has its own specificities and, therefore, solutions have to respond to economic realities on the ground.”
He outlined the “series of timely, tailor-made and bold measures which protected the country’s financial system in the last few years. […]
The hallmark in the evolution of the Bank of Mauritius has been its institutional strength, and I can confidently affirm that the measures have reaped the expected results and the banking system has successfully weathered the crisis unscathed.”
A reality that David Hotte focused on during his presentation on “AML/CFT Developments”, stressing the need for “tailor-made and context-adapted regulatory and legislative changes in the banking sector.”
“AML/CFT is an ever evolving matter and countries from all over the world need to be constantly on the lookout for new threats to their frameworks. This is why the EU Global Facility is so strongly committed to promoting a South to South technical assistance where experts trained by the EU GF can subsequently become trainers for their peers and colleagues from other countries of their region (and elsewhere).”
As part of its technical assistance to the partner country of Mauritius, the EU Global Facility provided continuous technical assistance through various training and activities from June 2019 to May 2022.
💡Mauritius was officially removed from the list of high-risk third countries with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) by the FATF

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.

Visit to South Africa
2022-09-19 - 2022-09-20 | South Africa, South Africa
This week, Team Leader David Hotte and Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans carried out a visit to South Africa 🇿🇦, building on the initial engagement of the EU Global Facility with the country.
The visit started with a meeting with the IDC BOT (Inter-departemental committee on BO transparency), the comittee in charge of the BO transparency reforms in the country where both parties discussed the workplan proposed by the EU Global Facility to the partner country.
Also in discussions: the future activities to be delivered in the coming weeks and months.
The meeting was attendez by representatives from the FIU, the CIPC (Ministry of #Economy), the Master of courts (Ministry of #Justice) and South Africa’s revenue service (Ministry of #Finances)
💡The IDC BOT is tasked with engaging with the various relevant stakeholders on BO transparency from both the public and private sector.

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.

E-training of regulators/authorities of South Africa on FATF Rec 8
2022-09-26 - 2022-09-30 | South Africa, South Africa
Today, the EU Global Facility kicked off its first activity with South Africa 🇿🇦, in the form of an e-training on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8.
Opened by Ambassador of the European Union to South Africa, Sandra Kramer, the Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre of South Africa, Xolisile Khanyile, and EU GF Team Leader, David Hotte, the online training will span over the course of four days.
It is targeted at regulators and authorities of South Africa, and seeks to recall the main criteria and requirements of the FATF Recommendation on Not-for-Profit Organisations.
This constitutes one of the main topics of the EU Global Facility’s engagement with South Africa, which has recently been agreed with the partner country’s authorities.

E-training on investigation and prosecution of financial crimes for South African Justice/LEAs
2022-10-03 - 2022-10-07 | South Africa, South Africa
Launch of our joint Justice/Law Enforcement Agencies e-training for South Africa today. 🇿🇦
With this weeklong activity, the EU Global Facility continues its technical assistance activities with the authorities of South Africa, which started last week.
Attended by more than 75 representatives of the LEAs and prosecution of the partner country, the online training focuses on the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes. It also marks our first activity with the partner state under the Justice and LEA components.

E-workshop on BO for the Seychelles
2022-10-06 | The Seychelles, Seychelles

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.

E-training on Asset Confiscation & Management for DRC
2022-10-10 - 2022-10-14 | DRC, Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Last week, the EU Global Facility delivered an e-training on Asset Confiscation and Management to representatives of the Fonds de Lutte contre le Crime Organisé – FOLUCO from the DRC.
Delivered by the Director of the Central Organ for Seizure and Confiscation (OCSC) of Belgium, Jean-Michel Verelst, the 5-day activity covered topics such as the management of seized assets, informal international cooperation (via ARO/CARIN networks) and a number of case studies.
This course follows the recent working visit conducted last August in the DRC

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.

REC 8 e training for Argentina's regulators
2022-10-17 - 2022-10-21 | Argentina, Argentina
On 17-19 October 2022, the EU Global Facility is officially launching its engagement with new Latin American partner country, Argentina.
The project is delivering an e training on FATF REC 8 for Regulators.
This activity will serve to create the basis for the follow up work envisaged by the EU GF, namely an engagement workplan that includes the preparation of the Sectoral NPO Risk Assessment for Argentina.

E-workshop on FATF REC 8 Risk Assessment elaboration for the Seychelles
2022-10-20 - 2022-10-21 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
On 20-21 October, the EU Global Facility will continue its technical assistance activities with the Seychelles, with the delivery of an online workshop on the subject of FATF Recommendation 8.
This online workshop will be targeted at the regulators and competent authorities from the partner country and will focus on the preparation of a workplan for the elaboration of the NPO Sectoral risk assessment.

Exchange sessions Panama/EU asset recovery offices
2022-10-20 - 2022-11-04 | Panama, Panama
🇵🇦 A series of online sessions is being organised by the EU Global Facility on “Asset Recovery: Presentation of different models of Asset Recovery Offices in the European Union”.
Following the recent onsite activity on AML and tax crime organised in October in Panama, the Panama General Prosecutor Office expressed the country’s interest in learning about EU models and best practices on assets recovery.
As a result, the EU GF organised a number of e-sessions with representatives from the Assets Recovery Offices (AROs) from France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
Sessions, which began on 20 October, are scheduled to take place throughout the two coming weeks, targeted at around 15 senior prosecutors from Panama.
Ultimately, these activities will inform the new law on assets recovery currently being discussed at Panama’s Parliament.

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.
