Africa-Press – Mauritius. Training, capacity building and international cooperation, featured high on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) agenda as part of the process to delisting Mauritius from its grey list, highlighted, this morning, the Director-General (DG) of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Dr Navin Beekarry.
He was speaking at the opening of a four-day training workshop on Building Capacity on Combating Corruption and Asset Recovery, at the seat of the ICAC in Réduit.
The British High Commissioner to Mauritius, Ms Charlotte Pierre, the High Commissioner to Mauritius, Dr Kate O’Shaughnessy, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Satyajit Boolell and other personalities were present at the opening.
A joint collaboration of the ICAC, the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC) and the United Kingdom (UK) Home Office, with the support of the British High Commission, the workshop aims to strengthen the capacity of local law enforcement agencies and reinforce domestic and regional inter-agency cooperation and repatriation of tainted assets.
A training delegation led by the Operations Manager of IACCC, Mr Danny Murphy, is in Mauritius for the workshop. It is targeting 28 participants from law enforcement agencies such as Financial Intelligence Unit, Mauritius Revenue Authority, Mauritius Police Force, Integrity Reporting Services Agency, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, including five participants from law enforcement agencies from Seychelles.
Dr Beekarry pointed out that that it is the first workshop conducted post-delisting of Mauritius on the FATF grey list while emphasising that the country has been able to put in place systems and adopt measures, and will sustain efforts in the future to reinforce the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system.
He further dwelt on the importance of international cooperation to strengthen strategies to combat corruption and financial crimes, especially with illicit funds moving rapidly across the world with cryptocurrency and blockchain gaining ground.
The need, he noted, is to adjust and adapt the system to meet challenges with new models and frameworks to consolidate cooperation. Mauritius is working with countries at the regional and international level such as UK to coordinate a global response to corruption, he added.
The DG of the ICAC also spoke of the development of informal cooperation in the world of combating financial crime. More stronger and effective informal cooperation connects formal channels of cooperation, he said while adding that all institutions have to join forces to reinforce their system to fight corruption effectively.
For her part, the British High Commissioner to Mauritius, recalled the expertise and assistance provided by UK to Mauritius to meet the technical standards of the FATF and indicated that the UK will continue to support Mauritius to become a regional leader in championing best practice in countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
She mentioned that capacity building is important and critical to sustainability, hence the relevance of the workshop. As regional and global financial centres, she pointed out that Seychelles and Mauritius face some similar challenges as the UK.
Mauritius has demonstrated over the last two years the commitment to continue to tackle illicit financial flaws, ensuring safe and secure market for local and international business, she added.
As for Mr Murphy, he indicated that the workshop aims to increase awareness and cooperation on grand corruption and share international best practice on international cooperation and creating trusted networks so as to make a difference.
Discussions will also focus on the challenges of working on complex grand corruption cases involving increasingly complicated money laundering techniques.
In a statement, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Satyajit Boolell, pointed out that the workshop is a good initiative as listed out by FATF’s recommendations for training and capacity building. He thus stated it will be beneficial for Mauritius with seasoned international investigators conducting the workshop.
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