U.S. TREASURY TRAINS WEST AFRICAN FINANCIAL

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000907 TREASURY FOR IET LARRY MCDONALD, TFI LEVY AND GLASER, OTA RUFFNER AND CORREA, AND FINCEN. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FOR OPDAT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER EFIN ECON KCRM KTFN IV SUBJECT: U.S. TREASURY TRAINS WEST AFRICAN FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNITS ¶1. Summary. December 15-19, advisors from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) provided training in financial investigative techniques to 55 individuals from francophone and lusophone West Africa. Ambassador delivered opening remarks. On margins of the course, econoff and the OTA team met with the head of Cote d'Ivoire's financial intelligence unit (FIU),who requested technical assistance, including help setting up a database structure to deal with cash threshold reports. Post has offered to help Ivorian FIU staff members improve their English-language skills and has agreed to look for additional anti-money-laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist-financing (CTF) training opportunities, especially for members of the Ivorian judicial system. End summary. ¶2. Advisors from the OTA Financial Enforcement Team provided training in financial investigative techniques to investigators, prosecutors, and FIU staff members in Abidjan December 15-19. The GOCI and the Intergovernment Anti-Money-Laundering Group (GIABA) in West Africa, the regional Financial Action Task Force headquartered in Dakar, cosponsored the training for French- and Portuguese-speaking member countries. Sao Tome and Principe, an observer country to GIABA, also sent representatives to the training. Fifty-five individuals from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, and Togo participated in the course. ¶3. Ambassador Nesbitt gave an address at the opening of the course, in which she congratulated the GOCI for creating the Ivorian FIU, known as the National Unit for Processing Financial Information (CENTIF),and acknowledged the work CENTIF has done thus far. She stressed the importance of applying new AML and CTF laws effectively, noting that criminals search for countries with weak laws or where good laws are not effectively enforced. ¶4. Topics covered in the training included money laundering, terrorist financing, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) model AML/CTF law, financial intelligence units, investigative task forces, corruption, sources of financial information, forensic accounting, international evidence, money laundering investigative techniques, asset forfeiture, methods of proof, and investigative reports. The course also included a practical exercise that was integrated with the substantive lectures. ¶5. On the margins of the course, econoff and the OTA team met with CENTIF officials to discuss CENTIF's need for additional technical assistance. The CENTIF president, Mr. Bli Toussaint Irigale, requested help in establishing a database structure and in funding software and information technology to process and analyze the large volume of cash threshold reports that could be generated in Cote d'Ivoire. He also described CENTIF's need to establish connectivity with other government institutions. Additionally, CENTIF staff needs analytical training so it can better deal with cash threshold and suspicious transaction reports. Irigale also requested the current list of USG terrorist designations and designations made by the UN under UN Security Council Resolution 1267. Post and OTA have since provided CENTIF the requested lists. Additionally, in response to Irigale's request for English-language training for CENTIF staff, post has invited CENTIF staff members to participate in English discussion groups at the Embassy. And in response to Irigale's request for assistance on cybercrime issues, post has provided contact information for the legal attachQ based at Embassy Dakar. ¶6. OTA has held several joint training sessions with GIABA to improve GIABA member countries' AML and CTF regimes and to enhance their ability to fight financial crime. OTA has provided training to member countries in the area of cross-border cash smuggling (in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security),conducted a separate financial investigative techniques course for English-speaking member countries, and participated in a recent course in Banjul for West Africa bank compliance officers. Additionally, six representatives of Cote d'Ivoire's CENTIF and two representatives of the Ivorian Ministry of the Economy and Finance recently participated in a one-week AML/CTF course hosted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Arlington, Virginia. ¶7. Post greatly appreciates the support provided by the Department and U.S. Treasury for the newly organized Ivorian FIU and requests that post be apprised of any additional AML/CTF training opportunities, especially for prosecutors and judges who may be asked to deal with AML/CTF issues. AKUETTEH