United Kingdom, ready to support Kosovo in the fight against money laundering
Pristina, 3 December 2019 - The two-day workshop has started organized by the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council and the Kosovo Judicial Council and supported by the United Kingdom Embassy in Kosovo on the topic: “Money Laundering / Confiscation of Property”.
The workshop was opened by the British Ambassador to Kosovo Nicholas Abbott, the Chairman of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Bahri Hyseni and the chairman of the Judicial Council, Skender Çoçaj.
In this workshop, attended by prosecutors, judges, police and representatives of other justice and security institutions, Ambassador Abbott said he hopes that during this workshop participants will gain new experiences not only in prosecuting and punishment of money laundering crime, but above all in the confiscation of illegally acquired property.
Further, Ambassador Abbott addressing the participants said: “You are the ones who have to investigate, detect, punish and destroy money laundering schemes, but in order to successfully complete your work, you must also confiscate illegally acquired property”, and added that the United Kingdom is ready to support Kosovo in this area.
The head of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Bahri Hyseni, after thanking the Embassy of the United Kingdom for the support in organizing this workshop, said that this workshop is welcomed by prosecutors, as they will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the challenges, perspectives, achievements and UK legislation in the fight against economic crime, money laundering, organized crime, seizure and confiscation of assets during investigation and prosecution.
Chairman Hyseni mentioned some actions taken by the Prosecutorial Council that relate to the topics of treatment in this workshop. “The Kosovo Prosecutorial Council has established a Special Unit for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crimes at the Basic Prosecution in Pristina. In 2013 was established the Office of the National Coordinator for the Fight against Economic Crimes, the National Coordinator, who is a prosecutor, since its establishment has reported on a 3-month basis on combating economic crimes. These reports also include data regarding the seizure and confiscation of assets”, said Hyseni.
Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council, Skender Çoçaj, said that money laundering is a phenomenon that neither Kosovo is immune to, but according to him, the fight by the police, prosecutorial and judicial system of Kosovo continues at empowering rates against this phenomenon.
Chairman Çocaj at the end of his speech said that there is still a strong work and commitment by all relevant stakeholders, including the participants of this workshop, in order to achieve the materialization of objectives or goals to combat this dangerous phenomenon for society.
This two-day workshop is being led by Michael Hopmeier, a UK judge, who will discuss the challenges of investigating economic crime, regulating and preventing money laundering, the seizure regime in Kosovo and other seizure-related topics.
