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Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit hosts new computer-based training centre



Suva (Fiji), 19 May 2010
- Fiji's first computer-based training centre was set up between 4 and 7 May within the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit. The centre, which is now open to provide training, was made possible through the support of and cooperation among the British High Commission, the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit and UNODC.

The opening of the centre generated a great amount of local interest. Key visitors and participants included representatives of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, ANZ Bank and Westpac Bank, as well as the following national entities: the Ministry of Defence, the Police Force, the Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

UNODC provided support on two fronts: through the coordinating arm of the Global Programme against Money-Laundering under the Pacific Anti-Money-Laundering Programme and through cooperation with the computer-based training unit at the UNODC Regional Centre in Bangkok.



The computer-based training session against money-laundering consists of 13 modules covering the following topics: an introduction to money-laundering, why criminals need to launder money, money-laundering methods, financial havens, the role and responsibility of the financial intelligence unit, how financial investigations are conducted, undercover operations, net worth analysis, search operations, and interviewing and interrogating persons suspected of having laundered money.

The computers at the training centre will primarily be made available to financial institutions in Fiji. The immediate aim of the centre is to provide computer-based training on money-laundering to specialist personnel of the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit, the Reserve Bank of Fiji and other financial institutions. This is just one of the many activities organized by the Pacific Anti-Money-Laundering Programme to assist participating financial institutions to increase their ability to fight organized transnational crime, in particular in the areas of money-laundering and financing of terrorism.

Since 1999, UNODC has been providing Member States with technical assistance to address a range of issues related to transnational organized crime through computer-based training (CBT). The existing UNODC CBT curriculum contains 78 modules and is available in 18 languages. It is currently being delivered via 300 Centres in 52 countries. More than 100 of these Centres are in South-East Asia and the Pacific. The CBT Unit coordinates and implements operations from the Regional Centre in Bangkok.