The workshop was opened by Andrejs Grišins, the Chief of the State Police Central Criminal Police Department, who emphasized: “We have done a tremendous work over the last five years. Of course, this is proven by the high performance indicators, but I would particularly like to highlight the opportunity to promote successful and effective cooperation between law enforcement authorities at this time. From the law of operational action and criminal proceedings, we have been given wonderful tools to implement the operational measures of the investigation to detect and dispose of the proceeds of crime, thereby also undermining organised crime and making the committing of property crimes meaningless."
Pauls Krūmiņš, the Chief of the State Police Central Criminal Police Department Economic Crime Combatting Department, said: “Thanks to the financial resources provided from the European Economic Area financial instrument period programme, we in Latvia have the opportunity to exchange our experience, share successful practices, and acquire new knowledge from both partners and foreign colleagues and specialists.”
The workshop programme consisted of various lectures, exchanges of experience and discussions. Topics such as financial investigations, bank transactions, possibilities of OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) method and the process of evaluating an opinion of the Financial Intelligence Unit were addressed. To highlight the important aspect of cooperation in autonomous money laundering cases, the workshop highlighted the importance of the partnership between the FIU and the State Police, the role of the Finance and Capital Market Commission and other inter-institutional cooperation. The workshop also discussed the latest trends, opportunities and challenges in the field of money laundering in a global context. Foreign experts specifically highlighted and evaluated cooperation with Latvian law enforcement authorities.
The workshop on combating economic crime: “Forum of Money Laundering Specialists: Current Trends and Challenges in the Field of Money Laundering Investigation” takes place in the framework of the European Economic Area Financial Instrument's 2014-2021 period programme “International police cooperation and combating crime” under project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support for State Police to accelerate and improve the quality of economic crime investigations in Latvia”.