RSS ARU expected to reinforce regional law enforcement agencies

For the past two weeks, 21 financial investigators from law enforcement agencies across the region received specialised training to help counter serious organised crime in the Caribbean.

 

Addressing the closing ceremony of the Financial Investigators Course, International Financial Investigations Adviser, Regional Security System Asset Recovery Unit (RSS ARU), Ian MacDonald outlined that the course covered topics such as ‘open source intelligence – using the Internet and social media to gather information about suspects; investigating ‘off shore’ companies and trusts; and the practical application of the law relating to the confiscation of criminal assets.

 

“They also received input from French and US law enforcement agencies to increase co-operation between the different investigative units working in the Caribbean region,” he said, while speaking at the Pommarine Hotel recently.

 

The course is part of the RSS ARU’s programme of providing continuous personal development for all specialist financial investigators across the seven RSS member countries- Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

 

He told the participants, which also included two officers from the Cayman Islands, that the purpose of the RSS ARU is to build capacity and capability within regional law enforcement agencies, Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), Public Prosecutors, Magistracy and the Judiciary. 

 

“The unit seeks to enhance their efforts in countering serious organised crime by utilising cash seizure, money laundering and confiscation legislation as key components in financial investigation and criminal asset recovery,” he added.

 

The RSS ARU, which commenced in 2015, took over from the highly successful UK-funded Eastern Caribbean Financial Investigations Advisory Team and is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development. (JMB)