The SFMS has participated in the Egmont Group meetings
On July 13-14, in Riga (Latvia) the activities were held within the framework of the 28th Plenary Meeting of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. During the meeting, a number of important issues related to the strengthening of the global capabilities of the financial intelligence units (FIUs) and the whole AML/CFT system were considered.
Three sessions were held at the Plenary Meeting in the context of discussion of new mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of the FIUs in a risk-oriented environment:
Session 1 – Multilateral information exchange (attention was paid to multilateral mechanisms of information exchange, in particular, to complex ML/FT schemes involving several jurisdictions);
Session 2 – Methods of establishing effective priorities in the national and international cooperation (attention was paid to issues of managing FIUs’ effectiveness and prioritizing activities of the FIUs related to national and international cooperation);
Session 3 – Ways to strengthen the role of the FIU in the national AML/CFT system (it was studied how FIUs can strengthen their role as the leading institutions of AML/CFT system).
During the activities, the SFMS has also taken part in the regional meeting of the European FIUs and the meeting of the Heads of the FIUs of the Egmont Group, where key issues for Ukraine were raised.
An important issue in combating the global threat posed by the RF’s aggression against Ukraine is the effective application of international and national sanctions and prevention of their circumvention through the use of loopholes in the financial system.
At the initiative of the SFMS, in cooperation with a significant number of foreign FIUs, the work on analysis and investigation into crimes involving the use of virtual assets with the participation of individuals and legal entities from the RF, as well as their collaborators and persons associated with them, has been strengthened.
In addition, during an operational training session, the SFMS, together with representatives of the FATF and the FIU of Belgium, presented key results and practical solutions regarding global and national asset recovery measures. It is worth noting that the FIU of Ukraine acted as one of the leaders of the Egmont Group project “Assets recovery – Role of the FIU”, together with the FIU of Belgium. During the presentation the importance of coordination and cooperation for effective asset recovery in order to prevent and counteract to criminal activity was emphasized. Currently, this issue is particularly important in the context of the fight against the Russian terrorist war against Ukraine.
In addition, the leadership and analysts of the SFMS held a number of fruitful bilateral working meetings with foreign FIUs on operational and strategic issues, as well as negotiated with the Chair of the Egmont Group and the Secretariat.
In the framework of the Plenary Week, the leadership of the SFMS has held a separate focused meeting with the Head of the FIU of Poland and the leadership of key divisions of this FIU. As part of the said negotiations, which were held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, agreements were reached regarding the continuation of maintaining a high level of cooperation and the exchange of financial intelligence information in order to achieve the results that will bring the victory of Ukraine closer.
The SFMS, together with international partners, continues to consistently take necessary steps to hold the RF and its institutions accountable for crimes against Ukraine.
Note. The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is a professional network to enhance the effectiveness of the information and experience exchange among the FIUs of the global community, which includes FIUs of 166 jurisdictions. The Egmont Group ensures secure financial intelligence exchange to combat money laundering, financing of terrorism and related predicate offences.