The Anti-Corruption Commission office held an awareness workshop on Anti-Money Laundering related to corruption at 09:30 am today in the Assembly hall. The chairman of the commission attended the ceremony along with the secretary and members, the Director General from the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Police Brigadier General from the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Director Generals from the ACC office, Police Lieutenant Colonel, Deputy Director Generals of the Commission Office, the Director from the Office of Auditor General of the Union, and staff from the Commission Office and branch offices of the Commission.

    At the event, Chairman U Sis Aye stated in his opening speech that this is the second workshop in which the commission has collaborated with the Financial Intelligence Unit. At the event, Chairman U Sis Aye, in his opening speech, said that this is the second workshop that the commission has collaborated with the Financial Intelligence Unit. Money laundering (ML) involves violating any action on proceed of Crime (POC) and transferring, concealing and converting the origin, appearance, location and ownership of fund to make them seem like white money. Money laundering cannot be committed directly; it involves the laundering of proceeds of crime obtained by committing an original offense. As law enforcement organizations take action against the original crime, they need to verify whether money laundering has occurred. This necessitates conducting a financial investigation. If there is an investigation related to corruption, a financial investigation should be conducted in parallel, regardless of whether money laundering is suspected or not. It is crucial to enact laws and procedures to simultaneously enhance financial investigations when dealing with corruption cases.

    The negative effects outweigh the actual financial losses incurred due to money laundering. In the modern times, technological advancements have made crime cases more complex and challenging to be solved. Providing necessary training to investigators is crucial for improving their work efficiency.

    It is convinced that lectures on AML delivered by the experts from various Ministries will support for enhancement of knowledge on AML for staff and officials from ACC. Then, Police Brigadier General Myo Thu Soe, the head of FIU, gave an remark, saying that as Myanmar is a member of UNCAC, it is also important to combat money laundering in the implementation of the provisions of UNCAC, the cooperation between FIU and Anti-Corruption Commission will effectively fight corruption and money-laundering.

    Them, Police Lieutenant Colonel Myint Soe, discussed 40 recommendation of FATF (Financial Action Task Force), Myanmar’s mutual assessment on AML/CFT member countries and technical compliance and effectiveness on 40 recommendation of FATF (Financial Action Task Force). Police Captain Win Naing Tun, discussed methodologies of Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism - AML/CFT. U Thurain Aung, Deputy Director, discussed the issue of Parallel Investigation, and U Kyaw Win Thein, Commissioner, presented the results and recommendations derived from the discussions in the workshop. Subsequently, the workshop was concluded after participants had the opportunity to ask and answer questions.