Capacity Building Training Programme in the Ukraine

The purpose of a training mission by representatives of the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) to Ukraine in September 2009 was twofold: Firstly, to enhance the capacity of the Financial Intelligence Unit as well as the main law enforcement agencies in analysing, investigating and prosecuting international bribery and money laundering cases.

Secondly, the training was to assist the Ukrainian and Moldovan authorities in enhancing their staff’s ability to handle international requests and to succeed in co-operation with foreign jurisdictions to investigate financial crime and corruption, and repatriate stolen assets.

This project was initiated in the Ukraine in November 2008 through the mutual cooperation of ICAR and the Council of Europe. ICAR was tasked with developing a five-day training program for asset tracing and asset recovery that would be specific to the region.  The centrepiece of the program was to be an extensive interactive practical exercise that would simulate an actual corruption investigation in the Ukraine with an emphasis on collection and presentation of evidence for prosecution.

The training was held from 21 to 25 September 2009 in Lviv, Ukraine. Twenty five participants attended the programme.  These delegates included investigators, prosecutors and representatives of the State Department for Financial Monitoring (the financial intelligence unit for Ukraine) and the Ministry of Justice which also operates as the Central Authority for Mutual Legal Assistance requests.

The programme was officially opened by Ivan Sikora, a consultant acting on behalf of the CoE/EC Support to Good Governance: Project against Corruption in Ukraine (UPAC) who also contributed to the positive interaction between the trainers and participants throughout the training week.

The programme spanned five days through an interactive combination of foundation building lectures, mini workshops, and a large simulated corruption investigation in which the participants were taken from the basics of corruption and money laundering violations mutual legal assistance (MLA) to a very advanced level.  This took place by requiring the participants to actually perform a complex financial investigation. The practical exercise was supplemented with lectures interspersed at key junctures in the programme to provide the participants with the skills needed to move forward in their investigation.  Ukrainian legislation was analysed and referenced throughout the training to ensure that issues of specific relevance to Ukrainian prosecutors, investigators and those concerned with international investigations and asset recovery were covered.

In addition to ICAR trainers, the programme utilised an outside speaker to provide information on mutual legal assistance procedures and technical issues from a local perspective.  Dr Claire Daams from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) provided an interesting presentation on MLA during which she interacted well with the participants and encouraged questions relevant to co-operation between Switzerland and the Ukraine, and MLA in general.