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Project Title

Capacity Building Workshop on Effectively Combating Corruption and Illicit Trade through Tracking Cross – Border Financial Flows, International Asset Recovery and Anti-Money laundering Efforts; Its Impact on Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth

Project Year

2011

Project Number

ACT 1

Project Session

Session 1

Project Type

Standard

Project Status

Completed Project
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Project No.

ACT 01 2011A

Project Title

*
Capacity Building Workshop on Effectively Combating Corruption and Illicit Trade through Tracking Cross – Border Financial Flows, International Asset Recovery and Anti-Money laundering Efforts ; its impact on poverty reduction and economic growth

Project Status

Completed Project

Fund Account

*
APEC Support Fund

Sub-fund

ASF: General Fund

Project Year

2011

Project Session

*
Session 1

APEC Funding

95,043

Co-funding Amount

36,652

Total Project Value

131,695

Sponsoring Forum

*
Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Working Group (ACTWG)

Topics

Anti-Corruption; Transparency

Committee

SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE)

Other Fora Involved

Not Applicable / Other

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

Not Applicable

Proposing Economy(ies)

Thailand

Co-Sponsoring Economies

Australia; Hong Kong, China; United States

Expected Start Date

29/04/2011

Expected Completion Date

31/12/2012

Project Proponent Name 1

Ms. Piyatida Chongudomliuk

Job Title 1

NACC Officer, Head of the International Cooperation Section, Bureau of International Affairs 

Organization 1

Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission [NACC]

Telephone 1

(66) 2 528 4930           

Email 1

noostop@hotmail.com

Project Proponent Name 2

Not Applicable

Job Title 2

Not Applicable

Organization 2

Not Applicable

Telephone 2

Not Applicable

Email 2

Not Applicable

Declaration

Piyatida Chongudomliuk (Ms.)

Project Summary

- The 2-day workshop, to be held tentatively in 2012 in Phuket, Southern Thailand, will be co-organized by the National Anti-Corruption Commission of Thailand and the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will be co-sponsored by USA, Australia and Hong Kong.

- The workshop will build upon the foundations laid by the preceding APEC-funded workshops: 1) Capacity-Building Workshop on Corruption related to Money Laundering (Bangkok; August 2007) and 2) Capacity Building Workshop on Formulating Strategies for Strengthening Inter-agency Mechanisms on Combating Corruption Related to Money Laundering (Bangkok; October 2009).

- The workshop will focus on the process of recovering stolen assets in the forms of proceeds of corruption/money laundering/illicit trade so that they can be used for development and poverty reduction purposes. The goal of the workshop is to enhance the ability of law enforcers, especially those in developing economies, to detect, deter and recover proceeds of corruption and illicit trade using financial investigation/international asset recovery tools, cross–border financial flows tracking techniques and anti-money laundering mechanisms

- The highly interactive workshop will feature plenary sessions, sub-theme workshops, and small-group mentoring sessions based on the ‘learning-by-doing’ approach.

Relevance

Corruption and illicit Trade have adverse effects on long-term economic growth, trade and investment, and market integrity especially in developing countries where the legal means and enforcement capacity to effectively combat these crimes are still in their nascent stages. They also weaken the entrepreneurial spirit that nurtures innovation, openness, and competiveness. Moreover, increased globalization has made efforts to stem corruption and illicit trade more difficult for individual nations because of their linkage with other trans-national crime such as money laundering.

Enormous amounts of development funding are lost each year to corruption and money laundering, depriving citizens of their economic rights while exacerbating inequality and poverty. One of the major obstacles complicating and vexing efforts to eradicate corruption and illicit trade worldwide is the ability of criminals to easily transfer proceeds of corruption/ illicit trade and money laundering from one jurisdiction to another to hide their illegitimate sources. The World Bank estimates that the total global cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion is expected to reach US $1.6 trillion per year, nearly half of which comes from developing nations.

For law enforcers in both developed and developing countries, the process of recovering stolen assets can be immensely complex, time-consuming and costly. Major obstacles include the challenge of locating the stolen funds, inconsistent legal requirements across borders, lack of political will in requesting and requested countries, lack of coordination between national and international agencies, and lack of legal expertise in requesting countries.

In light of these underlying weaknesses in facilitating asset recovery, the National Anti-Corruption of Thailand together with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposes the organizing of a capacity-building workshop to address the major capacity challenges undermining the process of recovering stolen assets by convening law enforcers and relevant experts from APEC member states to collectively explore, revise and formulate innovative strategies and solutions.

Aside from responding directing to the instruction and commitment of APEC leaders to eradicating corruption, improving governance and transparency, the proposed topic also relates to other APEC fora such as the Committee on Trade and Investment [CPI] and the SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH [SCE] in that the collective knowledge and strategies coming from workshop will be highly relevant and applicable to the carrying out of their work and mandate.

Objectives

- Increase international understanding on corruption and illicit trade related to anti
  -money laundering, international asset recovery, as well as their adverse impacts
  on economic development and poverty reduction

- Raise awareness among policymakers of the importance of international asset
  recovery

- Enhance the ability of law enforcers, especially those from developing economies, to
  detect, deter and recover proceeds of corruption and illicit trade using financial
  investigation/international asset recovery techniques and anti-Money laundering
  mechanisms

- Create an opportunity for participants to develop professional contacts and networks

Alignment

APEC Leaders, in their declaration of “The Yokohama Vision—Bogor and Beyond” at the 18th Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November 2010, welcomed and supported the outcomes of the 22nd Ministerial Meeting, which promised further efforts in free trade and balanced economic growth. APEC leaders also pledged to "take concrete steps" toward realization of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

In November 2010, in Yokohama, Japan, APEC leaders and Ministers agreed to leverage collective action to combat corruption and illicit trade by promoting clean government, fostering market integrity, and strengthening relevant judicial, regulatory ,and law enforcement systems.

The importance of capacity-building programs for the furtherance of APEC’s commitment to transparency and anti-corruption was stressed at the 22nd APEC Ministerial meeting in Yokohama. The joint statement made strongly indicated the importance of deepen cooperation among APEC members and increasing capacity building activities in key areas such as anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and asset recovery. The statement also applauded the efforts of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts’ Task Force (ACT), which actively support capacity building within APEC and its partnership with other APEC sub-fora to fight against corruption and it was agreed to extend and enhance cooperation in this field.

In a similar vein, the 10th ACT plenary meeting held in Hiroshima, Japan, in February 2010 adopted the 2010 ACT (2010-2015) work plan, outlining the need to increase capacity building activities in key areas such as combating corruption, denying safe haven to corrupt officials, strengthening asset recovery efforts, and enhancing transparency in both public and private sectors.

APEC Support Funds are to be used for capacity building for developing member economies. Specific funds have been set aside for avian influenza projects. This project is targeted for developing members to better communicate with their SMEs communities how to best plan and prepare for a pandemic flu outbreak.

The proposed project is therefore in line with both the ACT [1] 2010 work plan and the APEC Leaders’ recognition of the importance of capacity building in key areas such as financial investigation/international asset recovery techniques and anti-money laundering mechanisms. Furthermore, the project will create an opportunity for networking among regional and international stakeholders from various APEC sub-fora. The expected outcomes of this project will add to the strengthening of the underlying conditions - namely, good governance and institutional integrity - that promote free trade and economic integration amongst APEC member nations.

[1] Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Taskforce has been upgraded to be "Anti-Corruption and Transparency Working Group" on 9 March 2011

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Direct beneficiaries: Policymakers/government officials, scholars, experts, private sector and civil society in both APEC and non-APEC economies; law enforcers in developing countries directly engaged in asset recovery activities will benefit greatly from this workshop.

- Knowledge products are available to and are used by practitioners (surveys of practitioners)

- National policymakers will be more aware of the linkage between anti-corruption/anti illicit trade and anti-money laundering efforts as well as the importance of establishing a strong asset recovery framework (interviews with key respondents)

- Increased awareness of asset recovery issues among private sector bodies representing banking, legal and accounting professions (reports of professional bodies, interviews with key respondents)

- Broadened existing anti-corruption/anti-illicit trade and asset recovery network among APEC-member countries through the organizing of the workshop

Dissemination

- The target audience: all participants and speakers; national and regional agencies etc involved with the substantive issues. The targeted beneficiaries will benefit from the great opportunity to gain experience of other experts and share their experiences in this anti-corruption/anti-money laundering field.

- The form and content: List of participants/speakers, content details, abstracts and presentations, economy reports, summary report and relevant academic materials presented/used in the workshop : The project output from this workshop will be in a report formation that summarized the shared experience of APEC member economies, and the discussion of member economies with expert speakers invited to attend the workshop. The key content of the report will include a set of best practices (with step-by-step illustration) on how to carry out asset recovery activities. The main audience of the report will be law enforcement officials in developing countries with little experience and knowledge in performing asset recovery activities. Experienced practitioners/trainers may also use/adapt this set of best practice as a useful reference or guideline in developing their training curricula on the topic of asset recovery. Both participants and non-participants who are interested in understanding the processes involved in asset recovery will find the set of best practices highly informative and easy to follow. The report will be circulated among the workshop participants, and would also be presented to the APEC ACT meeting and at other relevant APEC fora.

- Format: (hard/soft copies, Internet uploading): hard copies of workshop materials distributed during the workshop, soft copies in CD format and internet uploading thereafter. The workshop materials and CDs will comply with the APEC Publications Guidelines /Copyrights and the APEC Logo guidelines. Hard and electronic copies of all documents produced as part of this project will be provided to the Secretariat.

- External communication plan :

a) Briefing the media about key components of the project: representatives of both local and regional media will be invited to attend the workshop and a press conference arranged.

b) Promotion or other dissemination of the final product; the report will be uploaded to the APEC website also to the NACC website.

Gender

Corruption and illicit trade affect all segments of society equally and, from the opposite perspective, it has been shown that an increased leadership role for women is associated with a reduction in transnational crimes like corruption and illicit trade. The organizers will actively encourage the active participation of women and endeavor to ensure that a substantial proportion of the experts invited are also women. The Project Proponent is a woman while steps will be actively taken to seek the advice of women consultants and academics: and thus a positive gender bias in the project’s oversight and planning shall be ensured.

Work Plan

Tasks/Activities

Timeline

Involvement

Output

Pre-workshop Stage:

1. NACC prepares internal budget allocation plan

2. Drafting of agenda, finalization of location, and identification of partner organizations/participants/speakers/experts

3. Experts contacted and invited

4. Preparation of documentation, arrangement of social events, finalization of participants’ list, speakers and agenda, Circulation of invitation letters to APEC economies and other administrative matters : NACC sets up internal working groups

 


July 2011


November 2011

 

January 2012

March-June 2012

The project work plan will be devised and managed utilizing the region-wide network* formed during the previous APEC-funded Capacity-Building Workshop on Combating Corruption Related to Money Laundering in 2007 and 2009.

Co-sponsors and co-organizers will be closely consulted on overall theme and sub-themes, work plan and division of responsibilities throughout all stages of the project to ensure that the workshop will adequately respond to and reflect the specific needs and requirements of participating agencies.

*The existing network will be continually broadened during and after the holding of the workshop, with evaluation through questionnaires (both hard and soft versions) and subsequent email contact.

- Workshop agenda

- Invitation letters

- Workshop documents

- List of participants and contact information

Workshop Stage:

Organize a 2-day workshop in Phuket, Southern Thailand

July 2012

The participation of all APEC member economies, in particular travel eligible economies, in the workshop will be actively encouraged.

 

Post-workshop Stage:

1. Compilation of workshop summary

2. Dissemination of workshop summary materials: summary report and relevant academic materials presented/used in the workshop will be distributed in the forms of hard and soft copies and internet upload

3. Post-workshop evaluation: evaluation through questionnaires (both hard and soft versions)

August-September 2012

 

- Workshop summary report

- Relevant content uploaded on websites

- Compilation of evaluation documents

- Evaluation report

- Policy brief on stolen asset recovery

Risks

We have identified several potential risks that may exist while implementing the project. The following measures have been considered to eradicate or mitigate them:

1. Low response/interest in workshop of targeted participants: Co-sponsors/co-organizers and targeted participant groups will be closely consulted on overall theme and sub-themes, work plan and division of responsibilities throughout all stages of the project to ensure that the workshop will adequately respond to and reflect the specific needs and requirements of participating agencies.

2. Low participant turnout due to lack participants’ of financial support to attend workshop: A significant portion of the budget will be used to support travel expenses for selected APEC countries (mostly developing countries) to attend the workshop in Thailand. The organizer will ensure that the participants receiving travel support will be carefully screened to ensure that they possess the proper credentials and experience that will contribute to the workshops.

Overall, we are positively confident that risks involved in implementing this project is very low, considering that we have gained adequate experience from organizing previous APEC workshops on the related anti-corruption and anti money laundering field in 2007 and 2009. Nonetheless, we will be work closely with our co-sponsors and co-organizers to identify and address any potential risks in order to minimize any unexpected problems or obstacles that might arise.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Objectives

Performance Indicators

Evaluation  Methods

 

1. Increase international understanding on corruption and illicit trade related to anti-money laundering, international asset recovery, as well as their adverse impacts on economic development and poverty reduction

 

2. Raise awareness of policymakers of the importance of asset recovery

 

 


3. Enhance the ability of law enforcers, especially those from developing economies, to detect, deter and recover proceeds of corruption and illicit trade using financial investigation/international asset recovery techniques and anti-Money laundering mechanisms

4. Create an opportunity for participants to develop professional contacts and networks

 

 

 

1.1 International participants demonstrate increased understanding of these issues at the end of workshop



 

 

 

 

2.1 International and domestic policymakers demonstrate strong interest in following up on issues raised

 

 

 

 

 

3.1 Law enforcers participating in workshop demonstrates increased ability to detect, deter and recover proceeds of corruption and illicit trade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.1 Participants indicate that they have gain professional contacts after attending the workshop

 

 

 

1.1.1 Workshop Assessments, interviews with key respondents (post-workshop stage)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.1.1 Number of policymakers attending the workshop


2.1.2 Production of policy brief on Asset Recovery to be distributed to policymakers in APEC economics

 

 

3.1.1 Participants are able to complete case assignments during workshop

 

3.1.2 Participants indicate in workshop assessment that they are able to perform these activities better after attending the workshop[

 

 

 

 

4.1.1 Participants indicate in workshop assessment that they have gain professional contacts after attending the workshop

4.1.2 Participants and experts make editorial contribution to bi-monthly e-newsletter on asset recovery efforts and progress in APEC economies.

 

Linkages

Engagement: APEC meetings hosted by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Ministry of Commerce typically invite other stakeholders from a wide variety of backgrounds, within and outside APEC, to participate. They were consulted on the proposed topic and substantive issues of this workshop and the project met with their approval and support. As for external engagement with non-APEC members/organizations, recognized experts in the field of anti-corruption, illicit trade and asset recovery from UNODC, StAR Interpol, World Bank will be invited to be trainers for the workshop.

An innovative output of the workshop would be a policy brief on stolen asset recovery. The key target readers of this policy brief are policymakers in APEC economies. Produced in a concise and easy-to-understand format, the primary objective is to provide information on the scope of the problem of stolen assets in APEC economies, especially developing countries. The policy brief is designed to both communicate the urgency of the problem and also to highlight the possible solutions (best practice, guidelines and recommendations) which came from the workshop. The hope is that policymakers will have a better understanding of their role and possible contributions in the establishment an effective asset recovery framework in their home country and across the APEC platform.

Previous work: This proposed workshop is the third instalment to the APEC-funded workshop series on the topic of corruption related to money laundering organized in 2007 and 2009. Both workshops were co-organized by the National Anti-Corruption Commission and were attended by representatives of all APEC economies as either active participants or speakers. This latest workshop aims to further strengthen the capacity of law enforcers in the areas of detection, deterrence and recovery of proceeds of corruption and illicit trade

APEC’s comparative advantage: APEC economies comprised of both countries with expertise and vast amount of experience in conducting asset recovery activities (United States, Indonesia, Philippines, etc) and countries with limited experience and capability in doing so. Furthermore, participants of previous APEC-funded workshop on anti-corruption and money laundering organized in 2007 and 2009 have explicitly indicated that they are in need of training in this particular area. Moreover, studies on international asset recovery have highlighted that proceeds from corruption/illicit trade in developing countries are often moved to secret bank accounts in developed countries for safekeeping purposes. Hence it is therefore important to recognize that an effective international asset recovery framework requires close coordination and collaboration across multiple agencies, both domestic and overseas. It is therefore highly relevant to take advantage of the APEC multilateral platform to convene experienced trainers and practitioners from APEC countries to meet and train law enforcers from developing countries seeking to enhance their ability in carry out international asset recovery activities.

Sustainability

· After project completion, what are the possible next steps to build on its outputs and Possible next step: The fourth installment to this APEC-funded workshop series should focus on the improvement and development of corruption/money laundering investigation skills. A possible topic that will add on preceding anti-corruption/anti-money laundering theme could be on Mutual Legal Assistance Mechanisms and Procedures.

· Participants are expected return to their home country and utilize the experience and skills they have acquired to improve their enforcement work. They will be able to impart the their newly acquired knowledge and skills (identification, investigation and better management of asset recovery cases) to their fellow colleagues and to become ‘champions’ of asset recovery efforts in their home countries. Nonetheless, given the brevity of the workshop and scope of the topic, participants will need to refer to additional sources of information in order to gain a complete understanding of the asset recovery process. It is therefore the intention of the organizer to provide additional reference sources (UNODC, StAR, International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), etc) as well as contact information of trainers and experts to the participants at the end of the workshop.

The organizer will also encourage participating APEC member economies to conduct follow-up activities when they return to home countries (own funding). For example, the organizer will consult closely with countries that are keen in conducting their own follow-up workshops/seminars to examine the underlying country-specific obstacles that prevent their country from effectively carrying out asset recovery activities. The materials produced from this APEC-funded workshop could be adapted for this purpose while the organizer will be most ready to share our expertise and experience gained through the organizing of this workshop with our counterparts.

· Law enforcers around the world unanimously agree that most successful international cooperation starts with informal contact with fellow colleagues in another country. The network of professional contacts developed during the workshop will help facilitate formal cooperation when necessary in the future. Hence, a comprehensive list of participants and their contact information will be shared among the participants, trainers and the organizer.

Three bi-monthly e-newsletters will be produced by the organizer and circulated to network of contacts to facilitate further flow of information and exchange of knowledge after the completion of the workshop. The organizer will serve as the editorial desk while editorial contributions will come from the participants, trainers, and experts on international asset recovery. Participants are encouraged to share with fellow contacts through this e-newsletter their agency’s latest efforts and progress on improving its asset recovery mechanisms and framework

Direct Labour

Not Applicable

Are there any supporting document attached?

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Project No.
Project Title
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Other Fora Involved
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Project Proponent Name 1
Job Title 1
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Project Proponent Name 2
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Declaration
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Gender
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Linkages
Sustainability
Direct Labour
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