International academies
The organization develops its training programs in consultation with relevant domestic professional bodies and in line with their international training needs.
To successfully fulfill ICOFI’s core mission—enhancing international professional and training cooperation between investigative authorities with jurisdiction over crimes affecting public finances, and organizing professional trainings—it is essential to maintain up-to-date knowledge of the constantly evolving professional requirements.
To date, ICOFI has established professional relations with 24 countries and several international organizations, focusing on the exchange of lecturers and trainees. Beyond these practice-based partnerships, a key objective is the development of ICOFI’s international network, the strengthening of collaboration among its members, the cross-border sharing of training activities, and the mutual exchange of expertise and educational content.
As a result of efforts aligned with these goals, four countries entered into an agreement supporting international cooperation with ICOFI: on September 22, 2015, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Hungary ceremonially signed the Joint Communiqué on supporting the International Academy for Financial Investigation (ICOFI).
This event took place during the annual meeting (commonly known as G28) of the heads of the tax administrations of the European Union member states.
The essence of the Joint Communiqué is that the Parties—recognizing the need for an international institution dedicated to organizing and coordinating further training related to international financial and economic crimes, and enhancing the expertise of professionals to enable more effective action against such crimes—agreed to support the operation of ICOFI, headquartered in Hungary.
The content behind this declaration of intent—including ICOFI’s organizational and operational framework, the commitments of the parties, the coordination of training activities, and the means and directions for collaboration—is being developed jointly and consensually by the four ICOFI partners based on the strategic plans they have drawn up.
In a short period, the International Academy for Financial Investigation has achieved significant success in training organization. The rapid growth in both international and domestic partnerships, and in the number and diversity of training participants, has clearly confirmed the relevance and necessity of this initiative—launched jointly by the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) and the Ministry of Interior of Hungary.
A strong emphasis is placed on assessing the real training needs of authorities responsible for detecting and investigating financial/economic crimes. We aim to respond quickly and flexibly to emerging challenges, maintain an up-to-date database of expert instructors and trainees, and build a stable support network involving both public and civil sector stakeholders—i.e., international actors in the fight against financial and economic crimes.
The professional, intellectual, and networking support provided by the Ministry of Interior and the National Tax and Customs Administration ensures sufficient independence and backing to continue the innovative work we have begun.
In 2024, a total of 651 participants from 25 countries took part in our domestic training programs and international conferences. Among them were 583 domestic and 68 international participants.
The target group of the domestic training programs included personnel from national law enforcement agencies, while the international conferences were attended by criminal justice professionals (prosecutors, investigators, analysts, police officers) working in law enforcement, who speak English proficiently and have several years of experience in their respective fields.