Terrorists use different methods to finance their activities and conceal the sources of their funds, so financial regulators and law enforcement must use a variety of techniques to bring these criminals to justice.
To strengthen the capacity of Member States to understand the risks of terrorism and its financing, identify illicit financial flows and to investigate terrorism-related crimes, UNODC’s Global Programme against Money Laundering (GPML) with the financial support from the Bureau of Counter Terrorism of the US Department of State conducted a national workshop on preventing the financing of terrorism through effective implementation of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions (UNSCRs) 1267, 1988 and 1773: Financial Disruption on 14-17 February 2023.
Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) is a set of government laws, regulations, and other practices that are intended to restrict access to funding and financial services for those whom the government designates as terrorists. By tracking down the source of the funds that support terrorist activities, law enforcement may be able to prevent some of those activities from occurring.
According to Mr. Maralbek Yeshimov, Dean of the Law enforcement Academy under the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, “the financing of terrorism and the legalization of criminal proceeds are recognized by the world community as global problems of transnational nature and capable of undermining the existence of the state system”. He believes that the acts of terrorism can cause large-scale conflicts of political, territorial and national character.
“A stable AML/CFT system has been formed in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Noting the importance of strengthening the capacity of law enforcement officers in this matter, the Academy, together with UNODC, continues to work within the framework of the implementation of the national program to combat the financing of terrorism”, Mr. Yeshimov said.
Some 15 participants, including 12 men and 3 women, representing relevant agencies and financial intelligence units’ specialists of Kazakhstan attended the training. They all are responsible for implementing effective procedures or mechanisms to identify and initiate designations of persons and entities pursuant to the UN Security Council resolutions such as the National Security Committee, Financial Monitoring Agency, Prosecutor General’s Office and Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market.
“The main approaches in disruption of illicit financial flows, critical information requirements, vulnerability analysis and risk assessment and other issues were covered during the training. Along with theory, the training also included practical exercises on conducting analysis and nomination of initial targets,” noted UNODC Regional AML/CFT Advisor Mr. Aliaksandr Vadziany.
The training is a part of the UNODC-implemented multi-year Programme on “Countering the Financing of Terrorism” which is based on the implementation of UNSCRs 1267, 1373, 2462 and other related resolutions, as well as the standards of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).
A strong team of international experts from the United Kingdom and Belarus delivered the workshop. The workshop also highlighted the role of inter-agency cooperation to disrupt financial networks and strengthen compliance with international standards.
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UNODC in Central Asia
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vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org
