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Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Training Programme, Armenia (March 2011)

Experts from the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) conducted a six-day country specific training programme in respect of money laundering and asset recovery in Armenia during the period 17 to 24 March 2011.  This project took place through the mutual co-operation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ICAR and the Prosecutors’ School of Armenia.

The programme was held at a training facility in Yerevan, and attended by twenty participants. They included investigators (National Security Service, Special Investigation Service, and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police and the General Department of the Police against Organised Crime), prosecutors, judges and representatives of the Financial Monitoring Centre (FMC).

In keeping with the IMF’s commitment to ensuring country ownership and in order to ensure the training programme was tailored to meet the Armenian needs, the ICAR conducted a four (4) day scoping mission in February 2011.  This was done for the purpose of obtaining all relevant information relating to the Armenian legal system, investigative capabilities and procedures, trial process and the functions of the key government law enforcements bodies.

At the opening of the training programme, the ICAR Head of Training, Ms Phyllis Atkinson, emphasised the importance of developing the skills needed to identify, trace and recover the proceeds of crime.  She also acknowledged the funding support provided by the Topical (AML/CFT) Trust Fund (TTF) thus enabling the IMF to provide such technical assistance. Thereafter, the Swiss Ambassador in Armenia, Mr Konstantin Obolensky, made a few introductory remarks.  These highlighted the need for countries to enhance their capacity to fight corruption and money laundering with the technical assistance offered by organisations such as the IMF, and to recover assets in the wake of recent global events involving countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

The purpose of the Armenian training mission was to provide capacity building training to key law enforcement agencies in analysing, investigating and prosecuting international corruption and related money laundering cases in Armenia.  It was also to assist the authorities of Armenia in enhancing their staff’s ability to handle international requests and to succeed in co-operation with foreign jurisdictions to repatriate stolen assets.