As part of its ongoing efforts aimed at supporting Bulgarian authorities with the implementation of the Action plan for mitigating risks of money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) – developed pursuant to the Council of Europe ML/TF National Risk Assessment Methodology – the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) has organised a three-day training course on the “Investigation and Prosecution of Terrorist Financing Cases”. The activity was held on 8-10 November 2022 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The training was attended by over 25 representatives of the Financial Intelligence Directorate under the State Agency for National Security (FID-SANS), State Agency for National Security, Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, Ministry of Interior, National Revenue Agency, Bulgarian National Bank and the National Customs Agency. In addition to practical scenario-based work and analysis of case studies, participants could benefit from presentations on global, regional and national terrorist and terrorist financing threats, as well as on building of effective institutional structures and developing organisational roles and responsibilities among national institutions for countering terrorism financing.
Moreover, trainers focused on the specificities of the terrorist financing cycle and typologies, in order to further raise competencies of the present practitioners. Some of the sessions have also been dedicated to the presentation of tactics used by terrorist groups for raising and moving funds. Last but not least, the event aimed at enhancing present stakeholders’ capacities when it comes to the specificities of investigations involving non-profit organisations (NPOs) linked to extremism or terrorism.
The event was organised within the framework of the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) project for Bulgaria “Enhancing capabilities of Bulgarian authorities to effectively mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks”, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.