Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev participated in the International Anti-Corruption Forum on Kleptocracy and Illicit Financial Flows, which took place in Kiev, Ukraine. The forum was under the patronage of Ms. Iryna Venediktova, Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The main focus of the meeting was the fight against high-level corruption and financial crimes, as well as the need for the functioning of specialized structures in order to ensure the effectiveness of investigations into this type of crime. Topics, covered in the discussion, were ways to track and stop illegal funding and the confiscation of criminally property and assets.
The event was attended by prosecutors general and magistrates from Central and Eastern Europe, heads of specialized courts and anti-corruption prosecutors' offices in Ukraine, Denys Monastyrsky - Interior Minister of Ukraine, Denis Malyuska - Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk - Chairperson of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi, Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran and an OLAF representative joined the forum online. Participants included representatives of the Council of Europe, the International Association of Prosecutors, NGOs and academic community.
The representatives of separate prosecutor's offices discussed the specifics of the respective legislative systems in the context of the need to apply complex and joint approaches in conducting cross-border investigations.
Discussions also focused on the challenges facing investigators and law enforcement agencies in the fight against corruption and financial crime in the context of rapidly evolving digitalization and new payment mechanisms such as cryptocurrencies.