2005-02-09
Bank of Lithuania and Police Department to increase cooperation in fighting currency counterfeiters
The Bank of Lithuania and the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior will increase their cooperation in implementing the International Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency and the measures laid down by the European Council necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting.This is provided under the cooperation agreement signed by Reinoldijus Sarkinas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, and Vytautas Grigaravicius, Chief Commissioner of the Police, in Vilnius on 9 February 2005.
The areas of cooperation between the Bank of Lithuania and the Police Department will include exchange of information about the prevention of issue of counterfeit currency.The agreement provides for mutual assistance in preventing currency counterfeiting and suppressing issue of counterfeit currency.Cooperation will also include identification of counterfeit currency.Both institutions will exchange information on newly issued and withdrawn currency, counterfeit currency, and will share their experience in currency examination.
At present the Bank of Lithuania is mostly engaged in examining counterfeit litas currency, while the Forensic Science Centre and the Lithuanian Police Criminal Research Centre specialise in the identification of counterfeit euros, US dollars and other foreign currencies.
The Bank of Lithuania has cooperated in this area with domestic and foreign law enforcement institutions for a number of years.