International efforts to strengthen money laundering investigations intensify
Hanoi (Viet Nam), 23 February 2017 - A week-long training has increased the technical capacity of twenty-six Law Enforcement Officers from across Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Europe to handle matters involving money laundering. The officers gathered in Hanoi last week to participate in the training - conducted by United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) - with the underlying theme of Financial Investigations, money laundering and its associated crimes. The exercise was conducted as part of a greater three-week Asia Region Law Enforcement Management Program (ARLEMP) course.
Money laundering is regularly associated with an array of organised criminal activity. Offences such as cyber-crime, narcotic-trafficking, human-trafficking,
wildlife-trafficking and terrorism-financing have a direct correlation with money laundering - whereupon criminals use the laundered money to commit and/or profit from their crime. Consequently, the implementation of effective anti-money laundering techniques is vital to disrupting criminal organisations.
The Southeast Asian and Pacific region is often viewed as a haven for those seeking to launder money, due to its generally underused anti-money laundering laws, weak border controls and poor regulatory mechanisms. Accordingly, UNODC is committed to raising the region's anti-money laundering investigation skills up to international standards. "The necessity of strengthening not only financial investigation ability, but also the increased use of money laundering legislation and asset forfeiture provisions is essential to tackling organised crime [in the region]," said Mr Chris Batt, UNODC's AML/CFT advisor to the Mekong.
To further this goal, UNODC advocated for an attitude shift and has seen marked improvements in the prevention of money laundering, in particular through formal financial institutions. However, in recent times, this has presented a new challenge. "As the formal financial sector continues to evolve,
we are seeing a return of the cash courier and an increase in incidents of bulk cash smuggling in order to circumvent these regulated institutions" said Mr Batt. "Workshops, such as the one conducted this week, are vital for spreading the current message of both UNODC and the international community on anti-money laundering practices as well as educating decision makers on the recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)".
The lead instructors, who developed their skills within the British Police and the UK's HM Revenue and Customs, provided real world examples on the application of financial investigation and money laundering methods. Officers also undertook interactive exercises on how to implement these skills in investigations. During the course, as well as developing their expertise in investigating money-laundering, officers also studied case management, intelligence development, and the forensic handling of criminal cash.
The importance of international cooperation was emphasized as a recurring theme throughout the course because modern money-laundering activities almost inevitably cross international borders. With this in mind, ARLEMP's RMIT Coordinator, Ms. Anita Dodds, highlighted that a primary aim of the training "[was to] promote cooperation between [regional] police agencies…[and to] support the exchange of information between them to combat transnational crime".
A supplementary aspect of the training also saw the participants complete the latest UNODC eLearning modules on Money Laundering. The modules were part of an on-going collaboration between UNODC, the Australian Federal Police, ARLEMP and the RMIT University to count towards an accredited Master programme open to all ARLEMP students.
To facilitate on-going practical use of the training, the participants were provided with specimen forensic cash kits for future use and copies of the UNODC's anti-money laundering pocket guide. The pocket guide is designed to be easily carried by any Police, Customs or Border Guard official to act as an aide-memoire when dealing with potential cash smuggling operations. The guide has already been printed in Vietnamese, Khmer and Laos and will continue to be translated into other languages.
The training comprised of law enforcement officials from
police, customs, immigration, the division against transnational crimes, human trafficking, drug and other specialized agencies, from 22 different counties, including Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam.
Click here to learn more about UNODC's work on money laundering.
Click here to learn more about UNODC's anti-money laundering pocket guide.
