Press Release

U.S. Government Assists Namibia in the Fight Against Money Laundering

The U.S. Embassy invited the media to the opening of a week-long training session for Namibian Customs and Excise officials in the Ministry of Finance.  Mr. Matt Harrington, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Windhoek, and Mr. Ipumbu Shiimi, Assistant Governor, Bank of Namibia, officially opened the workshop at 08h30 on Monday, March 2, 2009, at the GZ Function Centre at the corner of Dr. W. Kulz and Bismark Streets. 

The Office of Technical Assistance, U.S. Department of Treasury, in coordination with the Bank of Namibia’s Financial Intelligence Centre, will provide the training.  The workshop will be anchored by three anti-money laundering and customs experts from the U.S. Treasury.   They will be joined by legal, financial, and investigative experts from Namibian Customs and Excise, the Bank of Namibia’s Financial Intelligence Centre, the Namibian Inland Revenue Department, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.  Accounting specialists from PricewaterhouseCoopers will also lend their talents. 

The workshop will cover various topics related to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, focusing on customs administration and enforcement, including:

Money Laundering Overview;  International Best Practices--Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, International Conventions, and UN Resolutions;  Constructing an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Program & Overview of Namibia’s AML Strategy;  The Legal Regime of Namibia relating to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing;  Financial Intelligence Centre;  Bulk Cash Smuggling and FATF IX Special Recommendations;  Sources of Information for Financial Investigations and Assistance from Foreign Law Enforcement/Customs;  Risk Management;  Introduction to Trade Based Money Laundering;  Transfer Pricing;  Namibia Customs Fraud and Smuggling Case Examples;  Planning and Conducting Financial Interviews;  Gold and Diamonds: Examples of Trade-Based Money Laundering;  Underground Finance/Alternative Remittance Systems;  Panel Discussion on the Parameters of Namibia Customs Investigations;  Customs Targeting Processes;  and Terrorist Finance and Local/Organized Crime.

For further information, please contact Public Affairs Officer, Ray Castillo at 0811280816, or Information Specialist, Roger Lyners, at 229801 [ext. 226].