PALP
PACIFIC ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROJECT (PALP)
PALP stands for the Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Project which was launched in September 2006 at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji. PALP is a joint initiative between the Pacific Islands Forum, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the US State Department. The PALP is to run for a period of 4 years and is funded by the US State Department. PALP is a regional technical assistance and training programme designed to assist Forum countries in establishing and/or enhancing their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) regimes to comply with international standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), relevant UN Conventions and Security Council Resolutions. What does PALP do? PALP plans to provide targeted regional training initiatives for law enforcement law enforcement officials, prosecutors, members of the judiciary and relevant financial institutions in PIF member countries. These regional training initiatives will be supported and reinforced by resident PALP mentors who will provide regional, bilateral and in-country training and mentoring. A Legal mentor took up residence in Tonga in September, and similarly a law enforcement mentor has also taken up residence in Vanuatu. PALP intends to recruit additional resident mentors in the near future. PALP does not offer capital or direct funding. The delivery of assistance is advisory, training and capacity building in nature. How does PALP differ from other similar programmes? The PALP differs from other similar programmes in that it has adopted a decentralised approach in delivering technical assistance to PIF by placing resident mentors with some PIF member countries. This will give PIF member countries ownership of the PALP and also enable PALP to have the benefit of having a close working relationship on the ground with stakeholders in AML & CTF regimes. In responding to requests from PIF member countries, the PALP resident mentors are able to provide on-site mentoring on a long term basis by staying up to 4-6 weeks at a time, or even longer if necessary. What about donor coordination? PALP seeks to coordinate efforts with other donor agencies to avoid duplication of efforts. In this regard, it has already sought to cooperate and coordinate efforts by maintaining close contact with the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group (APG), the Australian Anti-Money Laundering Team (AMLAT), the Commonwealth Secretariat, IMF, World Bank and the UNODC. PALP continues to provide and share relevant information with these donor agencies. What are some of PALP’s activities? Tonga The PALP is currently reviewing the AML & CTF regime of Tonga. In addition, it was making preparations to respond to a request from the Reserve Bank of Tonga to review Tonga’s Transaction Reporting Authority (TRA) which is its equivalent of a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The review and preparations for the review of the TRA have been postponed until sometime in early 2007 following the recent civil unrest in Tonga a few weeks ago. Vanuatu PALP commenced in November 2006, a review of Vanuatu’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation, in particular the Financial Transaction Reporting Act 2000 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 as amended, including the cross border movement of currency and the requisite requirements for reporting. These initiatives are in response to issues raised in respect of Vanuatu’s APG mutual evaluation report in early 2006. It is envisaged that various legislative amendments will be developed in early 2007, and presented to the Vanuatu Parliament by March 2007. Palau A PALP team will be visiting Palau first week of December 2006 in response to an urgent request from Palau regarding the collapse of a local bank where US$15 million dollars has been missing. The lack of effective anti-money laundering measures in the Palau financial sector has been cited as the main contributing factor to this incident. Marshall Islands PALP was asked to undertake an assessment mission of the Marshall Islands on its AML & CTF regime in the second of week of December but this has now been postponed until early 2007. Regional initiatives PALP is planning to carry out several regional workshops(up to 3 workshops) aimed at developing and enhancing further the investigative skills of law enforcement officials and the litigation skills of prosecutors in AML & CTF cases in Forum member countries. PALP is also planning to have training for the judiciary. These initiatives are planned for early 2007 commencing from April 2007. Planning and preparations for these workshops are already underway. The venues and content for these regional workshops should be finalized by January 2007. For Further information please contact: Kosi Latu Coordinator PALP Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji Islands Tel: (679) 331 2600/3220228 Mobile: (679) 9998011 Fax: (679) 3220291 or email |
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