26th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Illicit Finance
Hon. Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz highlighted the severe and extensive impacts of illicit finance on a global scale, affecting businesses, economies, and nations. She emphasized the crucial role financial intelligence units (FIUs) play in aiding national and international efforts to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and predicate offences. Hon. Franków-Jaśkiewicz stressed the paramount importance of financial intelligence sharing, describing FIUs as the nerve centre of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts. She discussed the challenges of tracing the web of money laundering and terrorist financing due to the global nature of these activities. Hon. Franków-Jaśkiewicz then introduced the Egmont group, a uniquely positioned, global organization formed by 170 member FIUs, designed to facilitate operational cooperation and information exchange among its members. She emphasized the group’s efforts in providing a secure platform for information exchange amongst FIUs, capacity building by providing technical assistance and training through the Egmont Centre of FIU Excellenc and Leadership (ECOFEL) and sharing expertise, including typology reports and red flags/risk indicators, through the Information Exchange Working Group (IEWG). She then highlighted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) as key stakeholders and longstanding supporters of the ECOFEL Program. Finally, Hon. Franków-Jaśkiewicz highlighted vital projects and achievements recently carried out by ECOFEL and the IEWG.
