International Anti-Money Laundering Operational Network (AMON) launched

On 26 & 27 January 2012, over 100 experts in anti-money laundering, from 35 jurisdictions gathered in Prague, Czech Republic, in order to launch a new network called AMON (Anti-Money Laundering Operational Network). This network launch was opened by Mr Petr Lessy, Police President of the Czech Republic.  Investigators from 25 EU Member States attended together with investigators from several non EU jurisdictions including Australia, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States of America. Europol will hold the Permanent Secretariat for AMON, and its newly appointed Deputy Director, Mr. Oldrich Martinu provided a keynote speech at the event. Eurojust will support AMON, and also addressed the conference.

AMON is an initiative to create an informal network of national contacts from law enforcement anti-money laundering units, focused on all aspects related to tackling money laundering activities.  Its main goal is to enhance and optimise the existing legal frameworks for international cooperation in this area. The global demand to establish an anti-money laundering investigators network is clearly highlighted by the interest this event has drawn.