AUSTRAC's Counter Terrorist Financing work in South East Asia
South East Asian Counterterrorism Technical Assistance & Training (SEACAT)
Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Lao Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam
Under the AUSTRAC South East Asian Counter Terrorism (SEACT) Program, AUSTRAC is providing capacity building assistance to 10 South East Asian nations; Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This program commenced in July 2004 and will continue until 2008. The program involves AUSTRAC providing assistance to these counterpart organisations to develop capacity in detecting and dealing with terrorism financing and money laundering.
The SEACT Program is funded at AU$10 million over four years and coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). AUSTRAC assistance is being provided in the form of in-country mentoring, IT advice, training programs and typologies development. Specifically, AUSTRAC technical advisors provide in-country mentoring to counterpart Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), an IT adviser is assisting counterpart FIUs with IT systems planning and implementation, and AUSTRAC training officers are developing and delivering training courses throughout the region.
Terrorist financing typologies based on Australian and regional experiences are being developed to assist authorities in all SEACT jurisdictions to better target terrorist financing activity. In-depth training and exposure to AUSTRAC practices continues to take place via a number of attachments of appropriate officers to AUSTRAC's Sydney office over the course of the four year program.
Under Phase 1 of the SEACT Program, scoping missions and needs assessments for all 10 SEACT jurisdictions were completed. The SEACT program is currently in Phases 2 and 3 whereby AUSTRAC is planning and delivering customised and detailed technical assistance and training to SEACT jurisdictions as well as providing attachments to AUSTRAC and typologies development. The final phase will involve an assessment and evaluation of the program and where appropriate include recommendations for future capacity building initiatives.
PPATK IT Adviser Project
AUSTRAC, in consultation with the AusAID Indonesian Australian Technical Assistance Management Facility for Economic Governance (TAMF), are working on a project to further assist PPATK. This 13 month project aims to improve PPATK's IT systems to enhance identification of suspicious transactions.
AUSTRAC's Counter Terrorist Financing work in the Pacific
Fiji FIU Financial Information Management System Online (FFIMSO) Project
Cook Islands Fiji Marshall Islands Palau Samoa Tonga VanuatuAUSTRAC has also been funded under the AusAID PGSP to provide an information management solution for the Fiji FIU. The Fiji FIU Financial Information Management System Online (FFIMSO) project has been developed in response to the findings of a detailed IT needs assessment conducted at the Fiji FIU in February 2005 as part of the AUSTRAC Pacific Islands' FIU Database Project (PFIUDP)*. This enhanced solution will enable a fully sustainable online reports delivery system for the Fijian FIU that will strengthen the capacity of the Fijian FIU to collect and analyse financial transaction reports. AUSTRAC commenced the FFIMSO project in April 2006 and is due to conclude the project in early 2007.
*Pacific Islands' FIU Database Project (PFIUDP)
In December 2005, AUSTRAC successfully completed the 13 month technical assistance project; Pacific Islands' FIU Database Project (PFIUDP) which was funded through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) Pacific Governance Support Program (PGSP). AUSTRAC worked with five Pacific Island FIUs; Cook Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to develop small-scale IT solutions to manage the receipt and analysis of financial transaction reports information.
Other cooperative AUSTRAC work in the South East Asia and Pacific region includes;
Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC)
AUSTRAC continues to provide one officer as part of the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) initiative led by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The JCLEC initiative is part of the Counter Terrorism (CT) package coordinated by Prime Minister & Cabinet in 2003/04. The officer provides training in financial analysis for law enforcement officials from a range of South East Asian jurisdictions. Such financial expertise will assist South East Asian jurisdictions to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.
Anti Money Laundering Assistance Team (AMLAT)
AUSTRAC is working with the Attorney Generals Department (AGD) Anti Money Laundering Assistance Team (AMLAT) ensuring a coordinated approach to AUSTRAC and AGD efforts to aid the development of strong anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regimes in the Pacific region.