The 1st Steering Committee Meeting of the Project on “Countering Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Belarus” took place on the morning of 19 June 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. Members of the Steering committee are representatives from Investigative Committee, General Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Finance, National Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union Delegation in Belarus.
The Council of Europe secretariat presented to the Steering Committee the activities to be carried out under the project and discussed the expected results and timelines of the implementation of planned activities. The Terms of Reference of the Steering Committee was also anonymously adopted at the meeting.
Following the first Steering Committee meeting, a workshop on “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Typologies” took place on 19-20 June 2019. 25 representatives of financial intelligence unit, law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities benefited from the discussions in this workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to share the practical experiences from other jurisdictions in undertaking anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT) typologies work. The participants of the workshop were provided with illustrative case studies to highlight red flags for money laundering and terrorist financing cases.
The workshop was a balanced combination of theory and practice. Discussions were followed by analysis of case studies and exercises. Participants were provided a short guide on how to conduct AML/CFT typologies work.
The activity was organized within the EU/CoE Partnership for Good Governance Project “Countering Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Belarus” (PGG II-BE), launched in January, 2019.