Practically every country has a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and it plays a vital role in combating money laundering and other financial crimes. Yet there is often confusion – even among anti-corruption authorities – about how it works, what it can and can’t do, and what value it brings. Here is a very quick overview.

A vital buffer role

One major role of an FIU is to help filter out potentially illegal financial transactions that should be further investigated by the police or other competent law enforcement authority.

We congratulate Jersey's Attorney General, Robert MacRae QC, for his success in a landmark case that has upheld the Attorney General’s powers to obtain documents by compulsion in cases of suspected serious or complex fraud.

The Privy Council ruled in favour of the Attorney General in the Volaw/Larsen case, in which the defending company had refused to provide documents required for a fraud investigation on the grounds that this violated its privilege against self-incrimination protected by Article 6 of the European Court on Human Rights.

An exclusive interview with Elmer Chirre Castillo (photo: right), Provincial Prosecutor of the Third Anti-Corruption Supraprovincial Prosecutor's Office of Lima. 

By Oscar Solorzano (photo: left), Senior Asset Recovery Specialist and Country Manager for the Basel Institute's Peru country office.

Sophisticated and complex financial crimes span the globe. “Following the trail of the money” can involve many jurisdictions, each with their own laws and practices, and varying capacity or willingness to cooperate internationally.

Fighting corruption and money laundering, and recovering criminal proceeds, are therefore complex challenges. Specialised legal, financial accounting, analytical and investigation skills are essential.

The Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) training team held their second five-day training workshop on Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery in Asunción, Paraguay, from 3–7 June.

Experts from the Basel Institute's Peru country office trained 30 members of the Peruvian Procuraduría in a novel form of non-conviction-based asset recovery last week.

Experts from the Basel Institute's International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) supported the EU Action against Drugs and Organised Crime (EU-ACT) project with the first in a series of workshops on Financial Investigation and Asset Recovery in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 21–22 May. 

The Basel Institute's 29th Working Paper, published today, aims to contribute to the international policy dialogue on the link between asset recovery and countries’ pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Following ICAR’s Advanced Operational Analysis training workshop at the Financial Intelligence Unit of Ecuador (UAFE) from 13–17 May 2019, a panel comprising representatives of the UAFE, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the Anti-money Laundering Unit of the National Police of Ecuador discussed the challenges of coordinating and harmonising efforts to fight money laundering and asset recovery.