Irakli Shotadze, the Prosecutor General of Georgia and Laura Kovesh, the Chief Prosecutor of the European Union Prosecutor’s Office, has signed the Mutual Cooperation Agreement in order to deepen the cooperation between the Prosecution Service of Georgia and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The parties, based on the corresponding international agreements, expressed readiness in holding bilateral meetings at the strategic and operational level in order to cooperate in the process of finding legal aid, extradition and returning assets obtained from the crime, also sharing experiences and best practices.

Before signing an agreement, a bilateral meeting was held between the Prosecutor General of Georgia and the Chief Prosecutor of the EU Prosecutor’s Office, where they discussed the core directions of the activities of their agencies, important issues of bilateral cooperation. Also, at the meeting they expressed their readiness in carrying out joint measures to deepen mutual cooperation in the field of criminal law.

According to Irakli Shotadze, cooperation with the EU Prosecutor’s Office is of the utmost importance for the Prosecution Service of Georgia and this is another very important step taken on the path of Georgia’s European integration.

“Signing of the cooperation agreement between the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia and the EU Prosecutor’s Office will strengthen the cooperation between our agencies and continues activities against transnational organized crime, such as corruption, money laundering, VAT fraud and other financial crimes related to the improper use of EU funds” - said Shotadze.

According to the Prosecutor General of Georgia, cooperation with the EU Prosecutor’s Office is of the vital importance and it is planned to appoint a representative of the Prosecution Service of Georgia in the EU Prosecutor’s Office, who will be assigned to the headquarter of the EU, in Luxembourg.

As Laura Koveshi said, the agreement will enable both parties to cooperate directly, share information with each other, have contact persons and work together on common cases.

“The core competence of the EU Prosecutor’s Office is to investigate financial fraud, EU funds fraud, VAT fraud, corruption, money laundering and organized crime, if they are related to the key competence. I am confident, that our future activities will have connection with Georgia and the above cooperation agreement will make it easier for us to work together”, - she added.

In order to deepen the cooperation between the Prosecution Service of Georgia and the EU Prosecutor’s Office, the event of signing the mutual cooperation agreement was held within the framework of the 27th annual conference and general meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors, which is hosted by the Prosecution Service of Georgia.