The EAG Secretariat attended the 31th Egmont Group Plenary Meeting

The EAG Secretariat attended the 30^th Anniversary of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, the annual Egmont Group Plenary convened from July 6 to 11, 2025 in Luxembourg. The event was attended by around six hundred delegates from the Egmont Group member FIUs, international partners, and observers worldwide.

The Egmont Group now boasts 181 members following the acceptance of the FIUs from Mozambique, The Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Sierra Leone as members of the organisation. 

The Heads of FIU (HoFIU) endorsed a proposal to elevate principles of autonomy and operational independence of the Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) - previously outlined in internal guidance - to the level of formal expectations for all members, making them part of the Egmont Group’s core requirements. Additionally, the HoFIU have agreed to pursue enhancements of the Egmont Secure Web (ESW). The HoFIU decided to strengthen its capacity building program, ECOFEL, by endorsing a new funding approach.

The following projects received final HoFIU endorsement:

• Revision of the Egmont Group Principles for Information Exchange Between FIUs
• Effective Informal International Cooperation (Joint project with FATF, Interpol and UNODC)
• Increasing FIUs’ Effectiveness in the Asset Recovery Process
• The Role of FIUs in Fighting Environmental Crimes
• Streamlined Data Integration for FIU Questionnaires

The organization selected Mr. Daniel Thelesklaf, Head of FIU Germany, as the new EG Vice-Chair for a two-year term.

Additional important roles were selected for a two-year term ending after the 2027 EG Plenary, including:

• Ilit Ostrovitch Levi, FIU Israel, was selected as Chair of the Information Exchange Working Group
• Michelle Morales, FinCEN-FIU USA, was selected as Vice-Chair of the Information Exchange Working Group
• Fuad Aliyev, FIU Azerbaijan, was selected as Chair of the Membership, Support, and Compliance Working Group
• Carl Ramagge, FIU Gibraltar, was selected as Vice Chair of the Policy and Procedures Working Group
• R.J. Berry, FIU Cayman Islands, was selected as Vice Chair of the Technical Assistance and Training Working Group
• Derly Lavertu, FINTRAC, was selected as Regional Representative for the Americas Regional Group
• Shanmuga Priya, FIU India, was selected as Asia and Pacific Regional Representative
• Eftasthios Tsirmpas, FIU Greece, was selected as Regional Representative for Europe I Regional Group
• Ghizlane Dadyou, FIU Monaco, was selected as Regional Representative for Europe II Regional Group
• Mohammad Al Muhanna, FIU Saudi Arabia, was selected as Regional Representative for the Middle East and Northern Africa

The organization also selected three Egmont Secure Web board members who will serve a two-year term, until the end of the Egmont Group Plenary 2027:

• Roberto Edmundo Mendoza López, FIU El Salvador
• Muhammad Jiya, FIU Nigeria
• Turki Mohammed Aljandal, FIU Saudi Arabia

Anti-Money Laundering Council (FIU Philippines) was voted as this year’s BECA recipient with a case that earned recognition due to the volume, case complexity, innovative financial intelligence methods and the developed international cooperation network. Honourable mention goes to 2025 BECA runner-up the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU India) for their successful case contribution.

The HoFIU decided to designate June 9th as the International Day of the FIU. This date honors the founding of the Egmont Group at the Egmont Palace in Brussels in 1995. The HoFIU formally approved the declaration during the Plenary week, with celebrations to begin annually starting in 2026.

Other highlights of the 30^th anniversary Egmont Plenary include:

• Many delegates participated in the Best Egmont Case Award (BECA) Workshop, as well as in operational training sessions including the ECOFEL Workshop, the Egmont Secure Web Workshop, and the Joint Information Exchange/Technical Assistance and Training Working Groups Operational Training
• Among other deliverables, during the joint session, IEWG and TATWG presented an engaging video on the topic of the Abuse of Virtual Assets for Terrorist Financing Purposes

In addition to the working groups, meetings and training sessions traditionally organized during the plenary week, the hosting FIU, Cellule de Renseignement Financier (CRF), offered extra thematic workshops throughout the week. The aim of these thematic workshops was to provide a space for reflection and discussion on more operational topics and included:

• Workshop on operational Public-Private Partnerships
• Five workshops on data analysis:
  • It tools
  • Operational analysis
  • Strategic analysis
  • Joint analysis
  • One workshop in French
• Asset Recovery Workshop (by the Council of Europe).