What: Webinar on Enhancing collaboration between Law Enforcement Agencies and Financial Intelligence Units in Disrupting illicit financial flows
Where: Online
When: 21-25 Sept 2020 and 26-30 Oct 2020
Who: 61 Participants from East and Southern Africa region; for the 2 regional webinars
Context
The fight against money laundering, trafficking in human beings (THB), and smuggling of migrants (SoM), requires effective cooperation and coordination between law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence units.
Law enforcement agencies are important in the multi-agency approach in the fight against human trafficking as they are charged with the investigation, as described under their national laws in accordance with international protocols. Similarly, financial Intelligence Units (FIU) are important agencies in the multi-agency approach in the fight against human trafficking as they serve as national centers for receipt and analysis of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and other information relevant to money laundering and financing of terrorism, and for the dissemination of the results of this analysis to relevant agencies.
Financial investigation is key in bringing criminals to justice, unearthing criminal networks, and assisting in the proper profiling of criminals. Using a multi-agency approach between Investigators, Intelligence officers and the Financial intelligence units could disrupt criminal trafficking and smuggling networks by increasing the agency capacity.
Objectives
In conducting the training, the objective of the AML-THB has been to:
- Enhance collaboration between the Investigators, State intelligence, and Financial Intelligence Units
- Facilitate a platform for information exchange between the Investigators, State intelligence and Financial Intelligence Units
- Better understand the financial investigation and the role of the financial sector in disrupting criminal networks through effective AML measures
- Outline the Importance of Information sharing and a multi-agency approach in the financial investigation of THB/SoM
- Promote better understanding and importance of public-private partnership
- Explore practical cases and exchange experiences and good practices
Outcome/ Feedback
The participants of this training, conducted online, highly rated the training for its relevance and importance, meeting its objectives, value addition, quality of delivery, and level of participation. Feedback received informally on the presentations and sessions was very positive.