The Center for Legal Research and Analysis in cooperation with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, within the framework of the project “Support of the Macedonian criminal justice system in increasing the effects and effectiveness in the fight against organized crime”, held a two-day advanced training in the field of organized criminal intended for public prosecutors, judges and investigators on the topic of „Financial Intelligence, Money Laundering and Confiscation”.
The training started with greetings by Mr. Daniel Filler, Deputy Ambassador of the British Embassy in Skopje, Mr. Ilir Iseni, Deputy Director of the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors and Christopher Marshall representative from Chemonics.
After the welcoming speeches, the training continued with lectures by Mark Heffer, a foreign expert on international financial investigations. Heffer spoke about current trends affecting digital evidence, cryptocurrency fundamentals and open-source intelligence (OSINT).
Aleksandar Vujic, AML/CFT specialist and Certified Crypto Currency Analyst, pointed out more about cryptocurrencies. In his presentation, Vujic spoke about advanced financial investigations involving crypto-assets in RNM.
At the end of the first day of the training, prosecutors Simon Clements and Susana Mirchevska gave a joint address. Comparative experiences were shared for expertise in organized crime cases and the importance of expert witnesses and their findings in such cases. In addition, prosecutor Mirchevska shared the challenges with the findings of expert witnesses in practice, starting from the expertise of the persons, all the way to the problems in the regulation.
The following day, the training was reopened by Mark Heffer who spoke about the crime of money laundering and the prosecution of perpetrators independently of another committed crime for which a discussion was also developed about the similarities and differences between the legal system in Great Britain and the legal system in Macedonia.
Professor Gordana Lažetic also had her presentation, which, together with prosecutor Clements, referred to the confiscation of property, the challenges and finding solutions in our law as well as comparative experiences. Professor Lažetic paid special attention to the Law on Confiscation, its advantages and weaknesses, and did not forget to start the topic of the role of the Asset Recovery Office (ARO), which, although as a body within the Public Administration of RNM, has existed since 2019.
At the very end of the training, the judge Biljana Kocevska gave her presentation which paid attention to international cooperation and the legal framework that regulates this institute.
The purpose of the training was to strengthen the skills of public prosecutors, judges and investigators in the fight against organized crime, in accordance with the best international practices. This training enabled the listeners to expand their knowledge in the field of financial investigations, digital evidence, cryptocurrencies, asset recovery, money laundering, and international legal aid as well as decentralized finance and the role of expert witnesses in court cases.