OECD Asia-Pacific Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation

Last week, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Japan’s Minister of Finance Taro Aso presided over a signing ceremony to establish a new centre of the OECD International Academy for Tax Crime Investigation in Wako, Japan.

The signing, which took place in the margins of the meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, establishes the OECD Asia-Pacific Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation. The Academy will be housed at the Wako Campus of the National Tax College, part of the National Tax Agency of Japan. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Commissioner of Japan’s National Tax Agency Takeshi Fujii and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

The OECD Asia-Pacific Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation will provide intensive capacity-building courses for tax crime investigators and related law enforcement officials, including prosecutors, judges and anti-money laundering and anti-corruption officials- from Asia-Pacific countries. This will include broad-based courses on conducting and managing financial crime investigations (including digital forensics) as well as targeted courses on combatting specific types of tax and financial crimes, such as those associated with money laundering and VAT fraud.

“The Academy in Japan will draw together experts from the region, and allow them to work together in the fight against financial crime,” Mr Gurría said. “In doing so, it will strengthen not only the capacity of individual countries, but those of the whole region and beyond. We thank Japan for their generous contribution to making this initiative possible. We look forward to ensuring that the Academy trains and strengthens the capacity of tax crime investigators and law enforcement officials.”

The establishment of the OECD Asia Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation builds on the success of similar initiatives in other regions: the OECD International Academy for Tax Crime Investigation hosted by the Guardia di Finanza in Ostia, Italy; a pilot Africa Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigationlaunched by the OECD, Kenya, Italy and Germany following the G20 Africa Partnership conference in June 2017; and the OECD Latin America Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation hosted by Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Revenues in Buenos Aires since June 2018. Together, these efforts have trained more than 700 financial investigators from over 90 countries.

(Source: OECD Tax)

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Handbook for Tax Examiners and Tax Auditors

The OECD is encouraging tax administrations around the globe to step up their efforts to support the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing with the launch of a handbook intended to raise the awareness of tax examiners, auditors, and investigators of the important role they can play in combatting these crimes.

First launched in 2009 as a practical tool to enhance co-operation between tax authorities and anti-money laundering authorities, the new Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Handbook for Tax Examiners and Tax Auditors includes updated money laundering indicators and new material to increase detection and reporting of terrorist financing. Among other things, the Handbook:

  • Describes the nature of money laundering and terrorist financing activities so that tax examiners and auditors can better assist criminal investigators in countering these activities;
  • Provides guidance in identifying money laundering and terrorist financing during the conduct of normal tax audits;
  • Describes the resources and tools that are available for effective detection and deterrence.

The Handbook will also enable countries to review and evaluate their own approaches for co-operation between tax authorities, anti-money laundering authorities, and authorities responsible for countering the financing of terrorism.

The Handbook furthers the OECD Oslo Dialogue, which promotes whole-of-government approaches to tackling financial crimes through international standard setting, capacity building, and evaluation and impact measurement.

(Source: OECD Tax)

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