Europe’s Financial Intelligence Units Form an Alliance

“Ukraine has made great strides in establishing a system of combating financial terrorism. Yet only the concerted efforts of all financial intelligence units will help us deal the final blow to this phenomenon,” Mykola Azarov, First Vice-Premier and Minister of Finance, said last Thursday, opening a two-day workshop in Kyiv called “Intensifying the Information Exchange between Financial Intelligence Units as Part of the Council of Europe’s MOLI-UA Project.”

It will be recalled that MOLI-UA is a project aimed at establishing an effective system in Ukraine to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. “We have always paid great attention to financial intelligence,” said Council of Europe envoy Przemyslaw Musialkowski. “The cooperation project with Ukraine is one of our chief tasks, and we hope to establish close ties between your country and other European states.” The workshop’s main goal is to improve cooperation between the financial intelligence units (FIU) of various countries, explore the possibilities and difficulties of information exchange, and discuss “interesting” points and problems that arise as these units function.

“Money laundering is nothing new, but the question of combating this phenomenon has been raised particularly often in the past two years or so. First of all, what causes us worry is the circulation of suspicious money in this country,” Serhiy Hurzhiy, head of the State Department for Financial Monitoring, told The Day. “I can cite more than one instance of illegal money coming in from abroad; courts are handling cases and have handed down rulings in this connection.” Yet, in spite of such activity, Ukraine finds it difficult to curb money laundering on its own. Workshop participants think that all FIUs should do their utmost to understand the necessity of exchanging experience and secret intelligence data. Mr. Azarov believes that intelligence units should take preventive actions to unearth the schemes of terrorists, rather than run after them and follow the money-laundering schemes they have devised. MOLI-UA Executive Director Kirsten Mandrup said she fully agreed with him, adding that if it takes just seconds to remit money, then financial FIUs should work with unearthly speed.

To this end, the workshop suggested focusing on staff training. The common opinion is that all financial intelligence units lack highly skilled experts, who should have a perfect knowledge not just of the law but also banking and accountancy on the level of professional economists, at that.

In the end, the representatives of the sixteen participating countries agreed that illegal money is a powerful weapon in the hands of those who wield it and only through a joint effort will a favorable economic climate be established in Europe.