22 August 2023 - Effective anti-corruption efforts require a whole-of-government and society approach, including engagement of different institutions. The role of financial intelligence units (FIU) as key integrity institutions is critical in disseminating effective and timely intelligence to law enforcement agencies for the successful investigation of key predicate offences for money laundering including corruption.
The Pacific Anti-Corruption Programme and the Global Programme against Money-Laundering (ML) collaborated to deliver a three-week structured mentorship and technical assistance programme in Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The dedicated needs-driven structured mentorship program included a two-week hands-on mentoring for staff of the RMI Financial Intelligence Unit (RMIFIU) based with the RMI Banking Commission followed by mentoring for the FSM FIU based with the FSM National Police within the Department of Justice.
As part of RMI’s preparations for its upcoming Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) mutual evaluation in November 2023 and considering the deficiencies identified in relation to particularly R.29, the RMI FIU had requested UNODC for two weeks mentoring to address some of the key deficiencies which has included revisions to its existing standard operating procedures, prioritising and effective analysis of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) including timely dissemination to key law enforcement agencies.
The mission to FSM involved a high-level meeting with the Acting Secretary of Justice, Mr. Leonito Bacalando, Jr. to provide an overview of the mission objective which was to conduct a preliminary assessment and scoping of the current FIU set-up and identify legislative gaps and be able to offer policy direction to maximise the effectiveness of the FIU’s current operations.
A roundtable meeting with technical representatives from FSM National Police, Customs, Immigration, TCU, and other relevant authorities was convened to better understand their respective roles and how they can contribute towards maximizing the FSM FIU’s operations. The mentoring for FSM FIU focused on the need for digitizing and prioritising SARs, and how to effectively analyse SARs for effective investigation of key predicate offences for money laundering including corruption.
Whilst in FSM, the UNODC, delivered presentations at the 2023 FSM Police Academy Advanced training on 2nd and 3rd August 2023. The participants included 30 police officers from Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuk ranging from detective, inspector, investigator and prosecutor levels.
An overview of UNODC and its presence in the region including a holistic overview of Transnational Organised Crime in the Southeast Asia & Pacific region was covered. Other topics included Money Laundering, Corruption, Role of Financial Intelligence units and the importance of Intelligence in pursuing investigations and in particular financial investigations. The feedback received from the training was positive and there is an appetite expressed for further training.
Strengthening the capacity of FIUs in both RMI and FSM will require further on-going support to ensure that these FIUs evolve overtime in terms of its key functions and reach a level of maturity. The value of disseminating real time financial intelligence to law enforcement agencies was reiterated and further technical assistance and training needs expressed will be holistically considered.
The UNODC looks forward to assisting in strengthening capacity of key integrity institutions, including FIUs the Pacific, and further expanding regional cooperation to effectively counter money laundering, corruption and transnational organized crimes in the region.
