On 11 February 2022, the Ministry of the Interior signed a contract with the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (FIU Latvia) which in cooperation with the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) is launching a European Economic Area (EEA) grant-funded project “Improvement of employees’ knowledge in combating money laundering in Latvia”. The project aims to improve employees’ skills and knowledge and to strengthen the capacity of authorities responsible for the supervision of financial institutions, financial intelligence and investigations.
The target audience of the project is FIU Latvia experts and analysts, representatives of law enforcement authorities, the FCMC, and also the employees of Latvian commercial banks working in the field of combating money laundering and sanctions. Strengthening the knowledge, skills and understanding of the employees will improve the overall capacity to detect and combat money laundering at national level.
With the support of the EEA grant, the project will improve the knowledge of the employees of the authorities involved in financial investigations, operational analysis, offshore structures, cryptocurrencies, corruption in infrastructure projects and procurements, and the supervision of financial institutions in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.
The project will improve information control and analysis to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or related criminal offences. This will contribute to the safety and reputation of the Latvian financial system.
The activities intended within the scope of the project include training, workshops and exchange visits to other supervisory authorities in the European Union. The principle of sustainability will be applied during the project: the knowledge gained will be transferred through an online learning platform and also through exchange of experience between authorities and employees. Methodological and analytical materials on the training topics will also be prepared.
FIU Latvia is the project promoter, whereas the FCMC is the national partner. The total project funding amounts to EUR 450,000 whereof the EEA grant funding constitutes 85 per cent or EUR 382,500 and the national co-funding constitutes 15 per cent or EUR 67,500. The project will be implemented until 30 April 2024.
Prepared by:
Gunta Jansone
Ministry of the Interior
Head of Communications
Tel.: +371 67219363; +371 29494943
E-mail: gunta.jansone@iem.gov.lv