On 29 November 2019, ASEANAPOL Secretariat received a visit led by Mr. Tomonobu Kaya, the Coordinator of Financial Crimes Unit together with Mr. Horance Lau and Mr. Muhammad Imran, the Criminal Intelligence Officers from the INTERPOL Financial Crimes Unit. They were warmly welcomed by the Directors and Officers of the Secretariat.
The visit was intended to explore further potential on how ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL can cooperate in combating Transnational Financial Crimes. Various fields related to financial crimes such as telecom fraud, illegal gambling, commercial crimes, scam, etc. which will lead to money laundering were discussed.
First Light Operation, a pioneer project by INTERPOL on Financial Crimes, apparently has a successful result and for the upcoming year, INTERPOL has planned to organise Operation SOGA which will focus on illegal gambling. The operation is planned to commence from June to July 2020. In the preparation phase, the Asia-Pacific Expert Group on Organised Crime (APEG) Meeting will be held in May 2020.
The Unit also is introducing a new initiative Anti Money Laundering Rapid Response Protocol (ARRP) which will assist member countries to liaise with authorities in overseas jurisdictions to process stop-money requests urgently. This protocol will enable authorities to stop the circulation of illegal money.
Financial Crimes Unit Office in IGCI, Singapore was recently opened to strengthen and expand the coverage of the INTERPOL Financial Crimes Unit in ASEAN.
