With a view to strengthening national capacities in the field of financial investigations and asset recovery, the first week of a complex training program, a pilot - project with a component of Training of Trainers, was held at the National Institute of Justice from 8 to 12 December 2025. This phase focused on preparing specialists who will apply the methodology of the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) in specialized training activities and will contribute to the development of a national network of qualified trainers.
Designed in five phases for the period December 2025–June 2026, the programme aims to train a select group of practitioners to become ICAR-certified trainers. Throughout the programme, participants will strengthen their technical expertise, acquire pedagogical and training facilitation skills, and benefit from mentoring sessions, assessments, and practical exercises.
The first phase, delivered by experts from the Basel Institute as well as local trainers, focused on key topics in the field of financial investigations and asset recovery. The agenda included introductory aspects related to money laundering through crypto-assets, modern financial investigation methods, constituent elements of the offence of money laundering, and indirect techniques for proving illicit income. The theoretical sessions were complemented by practical exercises on asset identification and tracing, analysis of confiscation mechanisms, and discussions on international legal assistance.
At the end of the week, following an assessment of participants’ progress, five trainers were selected to be gradually involved in training activities. They will progressively participate in the delivery of modules and, in the final stages, will assume full responsibility for implementing the programme.
The programme is implemented by the National Institute of Justice, in partnership with the International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance (Switzerland), within the project “Supporting the Republic of Moldova in the Confiscation and Recovery of Criminal Assets (CRESTA)”, with the support of the Swiss Cooperation Office. A special part in turning this project into reality belongs to Mr David Mattan, Basel expert, Mrs. Corina Pavlisciuc, and the trainers Thierry Ravalomanda, Phyllis Atkinson, Alexandru Donciu, to whom we would like to thank once again for their support and expertise always in service of the National Institute for Justice.
