The Sixth APG Money Laundering Methods &
Typologies Workshop
8-9 December 2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Asia Pacific Group (APG) is an autonomous anti-money laundering body in the region with the primary objective of ensuring the adoption, implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards, as set out in the FATF Forty Recommendations and FATF Eight Special Recommendations. This includes assisting countries in the region in the enactment of laws to deal with the proceeds of crime, mutual legal assistance, confiscation, forfeiture and extradition. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together law enforcement officers, regulators and other specialists from the region to consider current money laundering methods and trends, with particular focus on:
The workshop included a number of presentations on the above topics and plenary discussions of the practical issues raised. There were also three breakout sessions with particular focus on Terrorist Financing, Currency Smuggling and Corruption. Through case discussion and study of jurisdiction reports, delegates could keep abreast of current methods/trends in money laundering and terrorist financing in the region to facilitate the detection and investigation of associated crimes as well as the formulation of counter-measures. As corruption was one of the main themes of the Workshop, Mr Gidwani was invited to give a presentation at the Plenary Session and to share Hong Kong's experience in this regard. He spoke of the interrelationship between corruption, money laundering and financial institutions. Mr. Gidwani was also invited to co-chair the Breakout Session on Corruption issues, which led to the formation of a Corruption Issues Working Group with members from the anti-corruption bodies of Hong Kong, Pakistan and Malaysia. Based on regional member jurisdiction reports regarding corruption related money-laundering issues, the Working Group will submit a paper, analyzing regional trends and determining the scope of the problem, at the APG annual meeting in June 2004. Criminals face virtually no boundaries across the world. Through this regional international workshop and other conferences, experience and information is shared, co-operation enhanced and internationally accepted counter measures are formulated and implemented. In his presentation, Mr Gidwani made the point that the ultimate goal for law enforcement agencies and regulators should be to act in a boundaryless manner in their fight against transnational corruption and organised crime, in order to be effective in making enquiries or prosecuting, both at home and abroad.
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On
the 8th and 9th December 2003, together with Senior Investigator Anoop
Gidwani, representing the Hong Kong ICAC, I attended The Sixth APG Money
Laundering Methods & Typologies Workshop, in Kuala Lumpur, along with
representatives from more than 30 member jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific
region. Other observer organizations included the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF), International Monetary Fund, Interpol, Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime and the World Bank.