Financial Crime World

Basel Institute on Governance and Hong Kong Justice Official Lead Anti-Corruption Training Course

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A six-week training course aimed at improving anti-corruption efforts brought together international experts from various law enforcement agencies at the Basel Institute on Governance in Switzerland. The course, which concluded recently, focused on sharing knowledge and best practices for identifying, confiscating, and recovering crime proceeds.

International Experts Share Knowledge

The visiting experts included Wayne Walsh, Head of the Mutual Legal Assistance Unit, International Law Division, Department of Justice, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. They were joined by ad-hoc lecturers from Japan, including Yuichiro Tachi, Chief Prosecutor, Sakai Branch, Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, and Shuichiro Hoshi, Professor, Tokyo Metropolitan University.

Key Takeaways

The course covered a range of topics, including:

  • Identifying crime proceeds from their point of entry into the financial system by verifying customer and true beneficiary identities.
  • Establishing Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) with adequate resources to analyze suspicious transactions and share information with relevant investigative agencies.
  • Promoting prompt and real-time sharing of information between FIUs and law enforcement agencies, as well as joint investigations across borders.

The course also emphasized the importance of developing legal systems that enable rapid freezing of crime proceeds, conviction-based confiscation, and non-conviction based confiscation. Participants were encouraged to push for close international cooperation in cases where crime proceeds are hidden across borders.

Participant Feedback

Course participants praised the training, saying it had helped them gain a better understanding of their countries’ legislation on confiscation of crime proceeds and anti-money laundering. They expressed gratitude for the opportunity to learn from international experts and ad-hoc lecturers, and vowed to disseminate the knowledge gained back in their home countries.

Future Publication

The Basel Institute on Governance plans to publish the lectures, group workshop results, and individual presentations made by course participants in its Resource Material Series 83, which will be available online early next year.