About 150 government and
law-enforcement officials from Asian-Pacific countries met in Pattaya to
continue work to weed out corruption and curb money laundering.
Urasin Khantaraphan
About 150 government and law-enforcement officials from
Asian-Pacific countries continued work on a regional framework to weed
out corruption and curb money laundering at a forum in Pattaya.
Justice Minister Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya opened the Sept. 22-24
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Multi-Year Project at the Dusit Thani
Hotel with National Anti-Corruption Commission members, Chilean
Attorney-General’s Office representative Solange Huerta and Chonburi
local politicians.
The APEC Multi-Year Project began last year with a meeting in Chile to
draft a handbook that provides information on how to investigate and
prosecute graft and money laundering. The manual will be a key document
for countries that lack a systematic approach to investigating
corruption and money laundering, especially when it comes to following
the money trail.
The book will focus on effective techniques to backtrack money and
intelligent investigation, which can be used as evidence to improve the
system to prevent corruption through APEC’s Anti-Corruption-Focused
Financial Intelligence Unit. A third meeting in the Philippines is
planned for next year.
Talks began in Chile in April 2013, focused on investigation and
prosecution. This month’s session in Thailand reviewed work done since
April and added new measures on backtracking.
Attending the session were government authorities and police from APEC
nations and those outside the region, including U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation and International Center for Asset Recovery of the Basel
Institute on Governance in Switzerland.
The meeting was divided into two sessions: theoretical lectures by
experts and representatives from the APEC economic zone on the methods
and techniques including the ways to track, seizing and sequestration of
assets in APEC and dividends for training group.
It also covered financial screening technology for asset recovery
workshops on designing models to prosecute corruption and money
laundering, and investigate intelligence for effective conviction and
asset recovery.
Paiboon said that junta leader and now Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha
has made the elimination of corruption a national priority and has
focused on improving corporate governance.
The country, he said, is part of the United Nation’s Convention Against
Corruption and he said that, as justice minister, he is ready to push
for changes in laws to increase transparency.
NACC Commissioner Pakdee Pothisiri said the Multi-Year Project is useful
for moving the nation’s strategies forward to the second phase,
especially, as it relates to the development of cooperation.
Thailand, as the host country for the APEC talks, has to make its
citizens aware of the increasing rate of corruption to support the
organization’s objective, which if met will create a stronger regional
force against corruption, he said.
