Albanian and Spanish prosecutors work together to fight corruption and organised crime

Organised crime has become a global threat, and for this reason, not only is cooperation and collaboration between national agencies necessary, but international cooperation is essential.

This cooperation becomes even more necessary when organised crime groups are behind financial investigations, as these groups follow the money laundering cycle, moving their criminal proceeds from one country to another, until the illegally obtained money is mixed with legal money around the world. This means that the tracing and seizure of assets, the ultimate goal of financial investigations, requires the necessary international cooperation and the involvement of international organisations.

Albania, due to its geographical location, is in a key position on the European criminal scene, which is why the European project EU4FOCAL is being carried out there with the aim of combating corruption and organised crime, and it is doing so with specialists from the National Police and the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office.

So far, within the framework of the project, specific training has been given on money laundering and financial investigation with the aim of providing greater specialisation to Albanian prosecutors and judicial police personnel, who make up the specialised sections against this and other financial crimes and asset investigations. These trainings are always held in order to be able to exchange European standards so that they can adapt their own and so that all countries can work together against criminal groups.

During this week, specialists from the Albanian Public Prosecutor’s Office will visit the main Spanish institutions related to organised crime, financial investigation and money laundering. After a brief theoretical briefing on the Spanish legal system in these areas, a practical overview of the work carried out by Spanish prosecutors will be given.

The aim of the visit is to promote cooperation between Albania and the Member States, to foster mutual trust between Albanian and European prosecutors and to give them a practical insight into the workings of European prosecutors’ offices, especially the central units and those specialising in money laundering and asset recovery.

Visits of this kind promote an exchange of views and experiences and will also enable Albanian prosecutors to improve the knowledge acquired during this time in their country and to strengthen co-operation between European countries.