Head of the Investigation Service of Ministry of Finance of Georgia is on a working visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland where he participates in the 5th International Forum on Tax and Crime, organized by OECD in association with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Head of the Investigation Service made a presentation on the international Forum held in London and introduced to other attending audience the approach of Georgia towards fighting against financial crime. Mr. Levan Gamkrelidze spoke about the role of the Investigation Service in fighting tax and corruption crimes.
“I’m happy that I was given an opportunity to introduce you the methods of fighting financial and economic crimes and results already achieved, also challenges that we are facing in Georgia. Recently we observe positive trends for the economic development in our country. Financial-economic crime is a danger for economic development and stability of the state. Therefore, the Investigation Service will become maximally active and carry out effective activities in order to minimize above mentioned crimes. For this purpose, it’s important to get familiarized with international experience, successful methods in this field and introduce the approaches that would be the most effective for fighting financial-economic crimes in Georgia.” – Mr. Levan Gamkrelidze said.
Participants of the Forum discussed the effective methods of fighting against tax and financial crimes and indicated the importance of activation of collaboration in exchanging information between the law-enforcement authorities of different countries, currently acting in this field.
As was mentioned on the Forum - meetings in similar format is an opportunity to discuss, both locally and internationally - strategic, organizational and functional aspects of the activities carried out by different countries in the field of exposing financial-economic crimes. This will help to develop effective and unified approaches to fighting financial and economic crimes. Besides, this the forum is the best platform for establishment of contacts, initiation of cooperation and deepening already existing professional relationships.
Within the frames of the Forum Mr. Levan Gamkrelidze met with the representatives of the World Bank, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service of the Netherlands (FIOD) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and discussed the issues of future cooperation.
Top level officials of the law enforcement authorities acting in the field of fighting against tax crime, customs crime, money laundering and corruption, high rank guests and experts from different countries are attending the 5th International Forum on “Tax and Crime” held in London from 7 to 8 of November.