The Action against Economic Crime in Albania organized a roundtable on “Standard Operating Procedures in relation to financial investigations” for representatives from the Regional Direcorates of the Albanian State Police, General Directorate of Taxation, General Directorate of Customs, General Prosecution Office, District Prosecution Offices of Korça, Permet, Berat, Saranda, Lushnje, Fier and Elbasan. The participants discussed the current legal and institutional framework and the practical approaches in the exchange of information and the interagency cooperation.

Participants discussed the objectives and principles of conducting financial investigations and legal conditions under which they exchange information including operational issues, the decision-making level and organizational aspects such as the establishment of multi-institutional investigative team. A Council of Europe consultant provided examples of good international and European practices including examples of national and international cooperation. Furthermore the consultant presented guidelines for interagency cooperation which could serve as a template for an interagency cooperation agreement between the competent institutions in Albania aiming to enhance this cooperation.

Participants stressed the importance of timely responses and outlined some of the issues pertaining to the sharing of data and specialisation of staff that have an impact on effectively conducting financial investigations. From this action it is expected that the interagency cooperation is streamlined and the exchange of information will be improved.

The activity is a follow up activity to the assistance provided to the Law Enforcement and Prosecution Authorities by the joint EU/CoE Horizontal Facility Action against Economic Crime in Albania and is focused on enhancing the understanding of financial investigations among participants and ensuring equal development of capacities in the field.