USG AML WORKSHOP FOR JUDGES IN AMMAN RAISES AWARENESS OF

UNCLAS AMMAN 001664 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA, S/CT, AND EEB/ESC TREASURY FOR OFFICE OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, ATTN: CARLOS CORREA JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF OVERSEAS PROSECUTORIAL DEVELOPMENT, ASSISTANCE, AND TRAINING, ATTN: JAMES SILVERWOOD CAIRO FOR TREASURY, ATTN: JERRY ROWE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN PGOV PTER SOCI JO SUBJECT: USG AML WORKSHOP FOR JUDGES IN AMMAN RAISES AWARENESS OF NEED FOR PROSECUTING MONEY LAUNDERING SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (U) The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT) and U.S. Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) recently delivered four, two-day workshops in Amman on "Adjudicating Money Laundering and Related Financial Crime Cases" to 86 Jordanian judges. The June 8-18, 2009, series of workshops was conducted under the patronage of the Judicial Institute of Jordan and funded by OPDAT. ¶2. (U) The workshops were designed to provide Jordanian judges with insight into the complexities of investigations and prosecutions of money laundering and financial crimes in order to improve the adjudication of criminal charges in light of Jordan's Law No. 46 of 2007, the Anti Money Laundering Law. ¶3. (U) The seminar agenda included presentations on: - Benefits of Anti-Money Laundering Laws - Jordan's Anti-Money Laundering Regime Structure and Legal Framework - Introduction to Money Laundering Concepts, Methods and Trends - Predicate Offenses to Money Laundering in the Context of Organized Criminal Enterprises - The Role of Jordan's Anti-Money Laundering Unit - The Enterprise Theory of Prosecution to Attack Organized Crime - Financial Investigative Techniques to "Follow the Money" - Methods of Proof Using Direct and Indirect Evidence - Foreign Requests for Judicial Assistance - Round Table Discussion on Jordanian Courts and the Adjudication of Money Laundering and Related Financial Crime Cases. ¶4. (U) The OPDAT Regional Legal Advisor - Abu Dhabi and the OTA Resident Economic Crimes Advisor - Amman were joined by Assistant U.S. Attorneys from Washington and Florida, an OTA Advisor, and U.S. District Judges from the District of Minnesota and Eastern District of Kentucky in presenting the workshops. ¶6. (U) A combination of Court of First Instance and Court of Appeals judges from Jordan's Ministry of Justice and Military Judiciary Judges from the State Security Court (SSC) comprised the 86 participants . Participants particularly appreciated the inclusion of sitting U.S. jurists as presenters in the workshops. ¶7. (SBU) The consensus of the attendees was that several changes to the current AML law were necessary for the effective investigation and prosecution of money laundering, and that the current level of understanding and practice would make it difficult to gain a conviction of money laundering under Jordanian law. NOTE: To date no prosecutions for money laundering have occurred in Jordan. END NOTE. The attendees also opined that more awareness of the deleterious effects of money laundering and financial crimes as well as the benefits of the money laundering law as a tool to address organized and financial crime are necessary for public and SSC prosecutors to feel comfortable with charging under the law. The fact that the law excludes numerous high monetary yield criminal acts as predicate offenses for money laundering was focused on as a principal area of weakness in the AML law. ¶7. (U) The Department of Justice's OPDAT Regional Legal Advisor - Abu Dhabi cleared this message. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman BEECROFT