Providing Expert Technical Advice and Inputs on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) to Selected Sub-Saharan Member States

The UNODC Regional Office for Southern Africa offers expert technical advice to help Member States take action against crime by removing the profits from illegal activities and providing financial and legal disincentives for committing them.  UNODC's work against money laundering aims to raise awareness of the risks of money laundering, build institutional capacities, and provide key technical assistance - based on current good practice and operational expertise - at the national and regional level. 

Mentors

The Mentor Programme, which started in 2015, delivers effective assistance in the highly technical fields of AML.  The strength of the Mentor Programme lies in the extensive knowledge and years of operational AML experience of each of the Mentors deployed by UNODC. The Mentors are ideally positioned to give expert advice, as well as provide the hands-on guidance that national practitioners need to both grow their craft and effectively implement their country's AML regimes to meet international standards.  UNODC Mentors have been assisting countries in establishing AML legal regimes and improving AML-related law enforcement responses.  UNODC has six Mentors placed in the field throughout Southern Africa, who have delivered technical expertise in AML matters to over 1500 national authorities and law enforcement agents.  

Prosecutor Placement Programme

UNODC, in conjunction with the South African National Prosecution Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit, runs a capacity building programme for prosecutors designed to make available information on application of asset confiscation methodologies and practices. The prosecutors undergo intensive training for a week before being placed in the office of an experienced and capable confiscation legal team for approximately three weeks.  The programme runs three times in a year, in May, July/August and November. The programme started in 2014 and to date, over 50 prosecutors have received assistance.

UNODC Regional Office for Southern Africa will continue to assist Member States to prevent and suppress illicit financial flows from drugs and crime through expert technical advice and training.