At the end of last year, on 28 December, a seminar on the problems of investigating economic crimes "Current events of financial investigations in law enforcement institutions in 2023" was held in the premises of the Investigator Training Center of the State Police College. The seminar was held within the framework of the project EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support to the State Police for Acceleration and Quality Improvement of Investigation of Economic Crimes in Latvia”. Financial analysts from various law enforcement and cooperation partner institutions gathered in person at the seminar, who discussed the achievements of this year, future perspectives and identified aspects of practical problems that require further attention.
The purpose of this seminar was to promote a collegial exchange of experience between analysts from different law enforcement agencies on a targeted and effective financial investigation process, the methods and analytical tools used, as well as existing challenges and problem issues identified in practice.
Financial analysts from various law enforcement and cooperation partner institutions gathered in person in the seminar - the State Police Economic Crime Combatting Department (ENAP), Division 4 of the Criminal Intelligence Management Department (Criminal Asset Recovery Office (ARO), Forensic Science Department, State Revenue Service, Internal Security Bureau, Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, Military Police, Financial Intelligence Service, General Prosecutor's Office, Riga Court District Prosecutor's Office and European Prosecutor's Office.
These specialists carry out financial investigations, data intelligence, acquisition, processing and use on a daily basis, thereby participating in the combatting and investigation of economic and financial crimes. In close cooperation with the investigator, financial data is analysed, assets of criminal origin are identified, as well as persons of interest to the investigation are established - perpetrators of criminal offences, organized crime groups at both the national and international level. In the process of data processing, the fictitious nature of transactions and deviations from legal commercial activity are revealed. Confiscations of assets of criminal origin implemented during the pre-trial investigation are based on financial research data and factual findings.
The present analysts shared their experience on the current affairs and trends of 2023, concluding that the demand for data and financial analysis specialists who know how to analyze data to achieve an effective result has increased in all institutions. During the seminar the methodological and practical issues of the best practices in the field of money laundering, tax, procurement, European Union project funds and investigation of official crimes were discussed. Despite the fact that each law enforcement institution has its own institutional specialization with specific nuances, it was recognized in the discussions that on a daily basis, colleagues in general face identical challenges - availability of technology, choice of IT solution, capacity for processing large amounts of data, structuring of data and presentation of conclusions of analysis (causality), possibilities and form of visualization of facts and regularities. In the investigation of financial crimes, an important role is assigned to the analysis of the property status of natural persons and the analysis of the economic activity of legal entities.
Besides, the participants shared their experience that last year they were often invited to participate in court hearings, to explain to the participants of the court proceedings the reports compiled by analysts in criminal proceedings, the methodology used, reported on whether the persons have special knowledge - education and competence - to perform such actions.
In an active panel discussion, representatives of all institutions discussed the achievements, future perspectives and identified aspects of practical problems that require attention. At the end of the discussion, the four most important questions were raised, to which answers and solutions should be found in the near future:
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To change the traditional point of view regarding the application of special knowledge in the investigation of criminal offenses with a specialist in the relevant field - a person involved in the criminal proceeding - an analyst (internal or inter-institutional regulatory document).
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Streamline the regulatory framework regarding the specialist institute for the purpose of Section 113 of the Criminal Procedure Law, considering the need to amend or expand the rights, functions and duties of the specialist.
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Prioritize and optimize the resources used for the investigation, that is, determine the minimum standards and threshold for the need of parallel financial investigations and the involvement of specialists.
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It is necessary to consider the need to create a unified methodology of law enforcement agencies for the evaluation techniques and method of determining the property status.
At the end of the event, the participants recognized that analysts, like any specialist, need to be constantly educated both in Latvia and abroad, in online courses and experience exchange programs. The most current learning topics continue to cover such areas as financial investigation, programming and big data structuring, analysis, proposal of versions and conclusions.
On the other hand, it was recognized as the main conclusion of the seminar that the investigation and combating of criminal offenses is a team work, where the investigator, the prosecutor, and the analyst are involved. At the same time it was recognized that the need of practical nature and experience exchange seminars of this format for analysts is currently relevant, useful and should be further developed and organized in the future.
The seminar was organized within the framework of the European Economic area grant 2014-2021 programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime” project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support to the State Police for increasing effectiveness and quality of economic crime investigation in Latvia”(more information: www.eeagrants.lv)
For informative purposes:
Simona Grāvīte
State Police
Manager of the Public Relations Department
Tel. 29900345