U.S. TREASURY PROVIDES FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 002019 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/IPA AND EEB/ESC; TREASURY FOR COREA/PARODI/GRANT; AMMAN FOR PARKER; CAIRO FOR ROWE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN KTFN KWBG EAID KCRM SUBJECT: U.S. TREASURY PROVIDES FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION TRAINING TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (PA) POLICE REF: A. JERUSALEM 1205 ¶B. JERUSALEM 1384 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: During the week of November 1, U.S. Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) provided training to 34 Palestinian Authority (PA) employees with various responsibilities under the PA's 2007 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) decree. This was the third training course on AML offered by OTA in Ramallah since July. Several PA officials attended the opening and closing ceremonies to express their appreciation for Treasury training and to underscore the PA's committment to combating economic crimes. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) U.S. Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) provided training to 34 PA employees with various responsibilities under the PA's 2007 AML decree at the request of Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) Governor Jihad al-Wazir on November 1-5. Participants in the Financial Investigative Techniques Course (FIT) in Ramallah included representatives of the PA Civil Police, PA Attorney General's Office, PA Customs, the Preventive Security Organization (PSO),and the General Intelligence (GI, also known as the Muchabarat). ¶3. (SBU) This was the third training course offered by OTA since July 2009 (reftel). U.S.- and Jordan-based OTA advisors provided training in Ramallah to PA employees responsible for investigating and prosecuting financial crimes. Participants primarily consisted of police officiers from the newly-formed Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Division (ECAC) of the PA Civil Police. The police were joined by investigators from the PSO, GI, and Customs, as well as prosecutors from the Attorney General's office. Due to high demand from participating agencies, this was the second offering of the FIT course in Ramallah. The first offering in July was attended primarily by prosecutors from the ECAC division of the PA Attorney General's Office. ¶4. (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 interviewing; financial profiling and indirect methods of proving income; collecting, analyzing and presenting financial evidence; case planning and managment; report writing; evaluating sources of information; and asset forfeiture. Funding for the workshop was provided from Treasury International Affairs Technical Assistance (TIATA) funds. ¶5. (SBU) Several local experts augmented lectures and practical exercises led by the three OTA advisors. Financial Follow-up Unit Director Riyad Aweidah provided an overview of the function and operation of the PA'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 evidentiary standards and discussed current PA anti-corruption efforts and authorities. Arab Bank Retail Manager Jamal Hurani presented on banking "back-room" operations and internal procedures used to identify suspicious transactions. Participants in the training were attentive to lectures and engaged in lively discussions during Q & A sessions. ¶6. (SBU) The training course began on November 1 with remarks from PMA Governor Al-Wazir and PA Attorney General Ahmad al-Moughani. At the closing of the ceremony, recipients were given certificates of completion and heard remarks by PA Civil Police Brigadier General Jaber Asfor, PA Attorney General al-Moughani and Jerusalem RSO Tim Laas. In his remarks, Attorney General al-Moughani said that the PA needed to do more in the future to improve enforcement against corruption and economic crimes, in line with the United Nations agreement to combat corruption and financial crimes, which the PA would join in late November in Qatar. RUBINSTEIN