The 5th EAG Forum on AML/CFT was held in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan)

The 5th EAG Forum on AML/CFT (hereinafter referred to as the Forum) was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 14-15 October 2025.

Traditionally, the Forum is held to discuss issues and exchange practices on ongoing EAG typology projects, as well as new (emerging) money laundering schemes and methods of terrorist financing. The Forum aims to obtain more detailed information on the mechanisms used to commit specific predicate offences, launder criminal proceeds and finance terrorism. The results of the Forum, together with other data obtained during the typology projects, are used to conduct a regional assessment of ML/TF risk and to develop measures to counter specific types of predicate offences or forms of ML/TF at the national and regional levels.

Taking into account the start of the third round of mutual evaluations of the compliance of EAG countries' legislation with the International Standards on AML/CFT/CPF (FATF Recommendations) and the effectiveness of national AML/CFT/ CPF systems, this year's Forum focused on issues related to the confiscation of criminal assets, including virtual assets, the practice of implementing extended confiscation and non-conviction-based confiscation, as well as property of equivalent value, into the legislation of EAG countries. This topic is directly related to the project currently being carried out by the Working Group on Typologies and Countering Crime and Terrorism Financing to develop a "Mechanism for Improving National Anti-Money Laundering Systems in Asset Recovery".

The second half of the Forum was devoted to exchanging views and experiences on improving parallel financial investigations in the AML/CFT/CPF sphere, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of detecting, investigating, and prosecuting money laundering.

The Forum was attended by more than 50 delegates from EAG Member States, representing law enforcement and judicial authorities, as well as financial intelligence units.

Over the course of two days, Forum delegates presented national experiences and examples of combating the use of virtual assets for predicate offences and ML/TF, the application of special confiscation and the seizure of property under anti-corruption legislation, financial investigations into cases of money laundering and fraud in the credit and financial sector and construction, embezzlement of budget funds, drug trafficking, smuggling of medicines, etc.

The EAG Secretariat staff made presentations on amendments to the FATF Recommendations regarding confiscation, as well as proposals for improving financial investigations and implementing extended confiscation into national legislation.

The EAG Secretariat would like to express its gratitude to the Government of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan and the Financial Monitoring Service under the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan for organising and hosting the Forum, as well as the International Training and Methodological Centre for Financial Monitoring (ITMCFM) for its technical assistance in conducting the event.

The next Forum is planned to be held in the second half of 2026.