Twenty-three supervisory and law enforcement representatives from Moldova strengthened their skills in identifying and investigating financial crimes conducted with cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets in a training course held from 30 October to 2 November 2023 in Chisinau. The course was organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
"In Moldova, the growing use of cryptocurrencies for money-laundering purposes calls for a critical need to enhance the capabilities of public officials to investigate these crimes. Understanding, regulating, and effectively managing virtual assets is important for Moldova's economic stability and security," said Vera Strobachova-Budway, Acting Senior Economic Officer at OCEEA. "This is the second training on investigation of virtual assets for Moldovan authorities, and the OSCE will continue to support Moldova's efforts to combat money laundering, particularly through virtual assets and cryptocurrencies."
The training course covered advanced techniques and practical tools to help public officials investigate financial crimes committed with virtual assets. Elements of the course included advanced tracing of criminal transactions on different blockchains, case studies, best practices, and familiarisation with specialized analytics software.
This course is part of an OSCE-led extra-budgetary project on "Innovative policy solutions to mitigate money-laundering risks of virtual assets". The project is designed to support the governments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in building the capacity of national authorities to mitigate criminal risks related to virtual assets and cryptocurrencies with the help of analytical tracing software. The project is funded by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Romania and Poland.
