The Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) training team held their second five-day training workshop on Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery in Asunción, Paraguay, from 3–7 June.

The workshop was funded by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) through their Transparency and Anti-Corruption programme. It focused on building capacity to investigate and prosecute corruption and money laundering offences, gather evidence, and identify, trace and confiscate assets located in foreign jurisdictions through mutual legal assistance requests.

The 24 participants were mainly from Paraguay’s Attorney General’s Office, Financial Intelligence Unit (SEPRELAD), General Comptroller’s Office and National Police.

In line with ICAR’s practical and customised training concept, the workshop was tailored to Paraguay’s legal framework and practices while also touching on international best practices in financial investigation techniques and new money laundering trends.

The centrepiece was a practical exercise: a complex simulated corruption and money laundering investigation. One participant, a prosecutor, commented that the training was different from any other she had attended because everything in the presentations could be directly applied in the practical exercise – and more importantly in her daily work.

The challenges of preventing money laundering and confiscating proceeds of crime were discussed at length during the five days. These are particularly hot topics because Paraguay will undergo an evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) in 2020, which will determine its state of compliance with the FATF Recommendations.