U.S. TREASURY PROVIDES FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 001384 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/IPA AND EEB/ESC; TREASURY FOR CORREA/PARODI/GRANT; AMMAN FOR PARKER; CAIRO FOR ROWE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN KTFN PINS KWBG EAID PTER PREL IS KCRM SUBJECT: U.S. TREASURY PROVIDES FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION TRAINING TO PA REF: JERUSALEM 1205 ¶1. (SBU) U.S. Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) provided training to 23 Palestinian Authority (PA) employees with various responsibilities under the PA's 2007 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Law at the request of Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) Governor Jihad al-Wazir. Participants in the Financial Investigative Techniques Course (FIT) in Ramallah included representatives of the PA Attorney General's Office, the PMA's Financial Follow-up Unit (FFU), the Preventive Security Organization (PSO),and the General Intelligence (GI, also known as the Muchabarat). ¶2. (SBU) This was the second training course offered by OTA in July 2009 (reftel). Europe- and Jordan-based OTA advisors provided training in Ramallah to PA employees responsible for investigating and prosecuting financial crimes. Participants primarily consisted of PA prosecutors from the newly-formed Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Division (ECAC) of the Attorney General's Office. The prosecutors were joined by analysts from the PSO, GI, and FFU. ¶3. (SBU) The week-long course focused on conducting investigations of moderate-to-complex financial crimes, such as commercial fraud, corruption, and money laundering. Topics included case planning and management; financial profiling and indirect methods of proving income; collecting, analyzing and presenting financial evidence; interviewing; report writing; evaluating sources of information; and asset forfeiture. ¶4. (SBU) Several local experts augmented lectures and practical exercises led by the three OTA advisors. From the PMA, FFU Director Riyad Aweidah provided an overview of the function and operation of the PMA's Financial Intelligence Unit, and FFU Analyst Firas Murar described various sources of financial information that can be obtained by investigators. Chief Prosecutor Salim Jarrar gave an overview of the PA's AML law and evidentiary standards. Transparency Palestine Director Azmi al-Shoabe covered local anti-corruption efforts, and Cairo Amman Bank Assistant Regional Manager Izzidin Abu Salameh presented on banking "back-room" operations and internal procedures used to identify suspicious transactions. ¶5. (SBU) Due to high demand from participating agencies, and in order to give the prosecutors' counterparts in the ECAC division of the PA civil police an opportunity to participate, OTA plans to offer a second FIT course in the fall. WALLES