On September 9, 2009 approximately thirty-five participants attended a capacity building event on Trade Based Money Laundering. The event advanced the goal for providing prosecution assistance by building technical skills in the fight against money laundering. The event was organized under the Multi Donor Trust Fund for Justice Sector Support (MDTF-JSS).
The event consisted of presentations by speakers from the Republic Public Prosecutors Office (Mr. Jovan Krstić), the Special Office of Organized Crime (Mr. Dimitrije Popić), the Ministry of Finance, Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering, (Mr. Radojko Srbljanović), Serbian Customs, (Mr. Idrija Hadžibegović), The World Bank (Ms. Karyn Kenny) and the U.S. Department of Justice (Mr. Eli Richardson). Audience participants included representatives from the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, prosecutors, custom agents, Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering, and related prosecution-focused development agencies.
The capacity building event explored the growth of trade-based money laundering and the vulnerability of the international trade system for utilization by criminal organizations to launder proceeds from crime. Speakers addressed the Serbian experience in combating trade-based money laundering, current challenges were shared, and participants engaged in dialogue between prosecutors, anti-money laundering officers and customs officers on how to best respond to combating trade-based money laundering.
The event represents a continuation of the MDTF-JSS support for strengthening prosecutorial capacities by providing joint coordination for justice sector partners in their efforts to combat money laundering.