UK provides training in Anti Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing
International experts shared the latest advances in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts.
L-R: Mark Willcock of GovRisk; Ross Denny, Her Majesty's Ambassador to Costa Rica; Guillermo Araya, Director General of the Costa Rican Drug Institute (ICD); Román Chavarría, Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit at the ICD; and Alejandro Montes de Oca, GovRisk expert.
On 19 and 20 November, more than 80 stakeholders from the public and private sector in Costa Rica took part in a capacity-building workshop aimed at sharing the latest advances in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts.
The 2-day workshop, delivered by the International Governance and Risk Institute (GovRisk), focused on Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, such as casinos, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents, given these sectors’ potential to be used as channels for criminal activity.
The initiative was financed by the British Embassy in San Jose, in collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Costa Rican Drug Institute, and was aimed at supporting Costa Rica’s efforts to adopt international best practices with respect to non-financial activities and professions.
In his opening remarks, the British Ambassador Ross Denny said:
Large-scale money laundering carries with it a number of cross-border elements. In the same way that money laundering and criminal financing are an international problem, they urgently require international cooperation to put a stop to them. The UK is not the only country facing these threats and that is why we work closely with international partners like Costa Rica to address these issues.
Mr. Guillermo Araya, Director General of the Costa Rican Drug Institute underscored the importance of the workshop for Costa Rica, added:
Workshops like this one support our own work in preventing illicit financial flows from entering the country’s financial system.
The workshop was run by Dr. Alejandro Montes de Oca Broquetas, the former Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT), the Latin American arm of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).