As a part of a long-standing cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine aimed at strengthening judicial capacities related to money laundering, training of trainers was conducted for Ukrainian judges through Council of Europe support on 29-30 March 2021. Following up on the development and piloting of a training course on adjudication of money laundering in 2020, this activity brings sustainability to the support provided by empowering its beneficiaries to transmit the knowledge and skills acquired to their peers, in addition to developing their own expertise and practice.
The training event addressed both the substantive contents and the form of training on money laundering adjudication for judges, as its objectives included knowledge sharing, judicial skills development, and developing an understanding of the social context within the administration of justice in criminal cases related to money laundering, as well as mastering by future trainers of the methods for teaching the training course. The event thus brings another contribution to the strengthening of national mechanisms to combat money laundering.
Within two days, 31 judges representing district Courts throughout Ukraine as well as the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine learned in detail multiple aspects related to money laundering cases. This included both national and international dimensions with specific focus on the role and powers of a judge at all stages of the process. The training combined theoretical presentations and practical exercises, and trainees also benefited from detailed explanations on the methodology for delivering the training to their peers.
their feedback on the training, participants described it as an eye-opening event, which enabled them to look at money laundering from an entirely different angle. Moreover, attendees stressed that, thanks to the new knowledge and skills they received, they could also apply a money laundering offence as an effective instrument for combatting corruption. This leads to expect that the support provided empowers the judges trained to transmit to their future trainees not only the technicalities of money laundering adjudication, but also a culture of increased use of the money laundering offence within the broader fight against crime.
This training of trainers was conducted as part of the EU / Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) II Project on “Strengthening measures to counter money laundering and financing of terrorism in Ukraine”, co-funded by the EU and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.