From April 19 to 21, CEDEM representatives Anna Isichko and Mariia Poloz, along with other members of the public sector and representatives of state authorities, visited Germany. They held a series of meetings with the federal authorities and the non-profit sector of the country to study the German experience in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, conducting national risk assessment and sectoral risk assessment of non-profit organizations.
In particular, the delegation participants included: Mariia Heletii (ISAR Ednannia), Maksym Latsyba (UCIPR), Yuliia Derkach (Caritas Ukraine), as well as Anatolii Movchun (State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine), Denys Khokhlov (Ministry of Finance of Ukraine), Anna Blahovisna (Prosecutor General’s Office), Anna Zaslavska (State Tax Service), Oleksandr Tabak (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine), Anton Kryvoruchko (SSU), Iryna Prytyskach (National Bank of Ukraine).
On the German side, representatives of authorities involved in national risk assessment (NRA) joined the delegation: The Federal Ministry of Finance, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, experts from the Federal Ministry of Justice, and representatives of the German Financial Intelligence Unit.
The Ukrainian and German sides shared their experience and agreed on further cooperation. Representatives of the German federal authorities emphasized: it is important to cooperate with the non-profit sector, which is “not an enemy, but a partner” and very useful in the fight against the threats of money laundering and terrorist financing.
On April 20 and 21, Ukrainians studied the experience of the non-profit sector in Germany in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Lucas Holtermann, a representative of the German umbrella NGO VENRO, spoke about the self-assessment of the sector designed to identify threats, and about the specifics of cooperation with state authorities.
His main advice and message is to establish fruitful cooperation between Ukraine’s public environment and its state sector. After all, it is the key to an economic environment of Ukraine protected from the threats of money laundering and terrorist financing. This is exactly what the Western partners, who are currently creating platforms for the reconstruction of Ukraine, want to see.
During the visit, representatives of the public and state sectors of Ukraine were able to reach an understanding, agree on further cooperation and plan a number of steps, in particular:
- Conduct an independent assessment of the non-profit sector in Ukraine in 2023
- Take into account the result of an independent assessment of the non-profit sector in the 4th round of the National Risk Assessment in the field of prevention and counteraction to legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (hereinafter referred to as NRA)
- Involve the public sector in the process of updating the National Risk Assessment Methodology in Ukraine before the 4th round of the NRA. The work should start in 2024.
- Promote integrity practices among the public sector
- Conduct mutual training for the state and public sector.
CEDEM will publish articles, materials and news about further work in these areas on its website and on social media, so please follow us.
We thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany and the German NGO VENRO for their help in organizing this visit. We are confident that the experience gained by both parties will contribute to the democratization and reasonable efficiency of financial monitoring of the non-profit sector of both countries.
The study visit to Germany was organized as part of the Project Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) and Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) with the sincere support of the American people through United States Agency for International Development.
