Events in 2021
Case Management Training – September 2021
A training workshop to develop the capacity of stakeholders (INSA, FIC, Federal Police, Customs, Attorney General’s Office and Addis Ababa Police) in utilising case management was held at Sapphire Addis Hotel from 8th September – 9th September, 2021 with 20 participants.
The training curriculum is designed to improve the skills of trainees to incorporate information from investigating suspected money laundering and/or terrorist financing. Training also covered the consequences of not having structured case management to law enforcement organizations and to the country.
The training material presented by Muluken Yirga Dubale, a senior legal advisor of AML/CFT. The training is designed to enable trainees to gain advanced knowledge on developing an integrated AML/CFT case management system. The expectations from each sector were extensively discussed, as well as the direction and timing of the information flow from each sector and the allocation of responsibilities in the control of the case management system. An overview of case management from other countries was also presented.
Training on Financial Investigations Delivered to FBI Officers – September 2021
A training workshop to develop the capacity of investigators utilising disseminations from the FIC was held from Monday, 30th of August to Thursday, 2nd of September 2021. Sixteen trainees recommended by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) participated in the training with programmes acknowledged by the FBI management.
The curriculum is designed to improve skills of the trainees in detecting and investigating money laundering and terrorist financing in Ethiopia. Trainees received instructions structured around the three elements of ML/FT:
- Threats – being an overview of main drivers of money laundering and terrorist financing, and quantifying the amount of illicit funds in the economy;
- Vulnerabilities – identifying the parts of business and other economic activity that are susceptible;
- Consequences – tracking the impacts of money laundering and terrorist financing where some of them also represent indicators of ML/TF.
The training material provided trainees with an in-depth knowledge of advanced modes of tax evasion, contemporary forms of money laundering found in the region and the country (based on typologies studies). The trainees were mentored in current forms of specialised investigation techniques which include collection and storing of digital information, processing of financial data, calculating unexplained wealth and investigating and prosecuting crime.
The training workshop was conducted by the Tana project team, assisted by Assistant Commissioner Berhanu from the FBI who also acted as a local technical expert.
The course provided trainees opportunities to apply the practical skills gained to resolve hypothetical cases. In the final stages of the workshop, trainees were assessed through practical exercises developed around real life case studies. During the assessment, trainees were divided into 4 teams, each of which tackled a different case study. Each team was required to present a solution to a problem presented by the case study, and to respond to questions raised by other trainees and trainers.
Trainees were awarded certificates of attendance signed by the EPU and the project team, on behalf of Tana.
We have received comments from the trainees on the training workshop highlighting the importance of the program. All the trainees were unaccustomed to money laundering and financing of terrorism as criminal offences and they acknowledged that the workshop equipped them with a good grasp of the main elements of these offences, and the contexts in which they occurred. Moreover, trainees suggested that since all regions are involved in the investigation of financial crimes including ML/TF, the same training program should be delivered to all regional financial investigators as well.
Training in Compliance Supervision – May 2021
Following the development of various tools to be used in supervising compliance by non-financial business and professional reporting entities in Ethiopia, some compliance supervisors received training. This covered general aspects of AML/CFT law, current manifestations of money laundering and terrorist financing, the use of the supervision tools and risk assessment.
Compliance supervisors from the FIC, the Accountants and Auditors’ Board and the ministries of Trade & Industry and Mining & Petroleum participated in the 2-day training workshop held from 24th – 25th May. These institutions have supervisory responsibilities over real estate agencies and brokers, accountants and auditors, dealers in precious minerals and metals and non-banking financial intermediaries.
Trainers included the developer of the training tools, consultant Jens Kauffeld, Mulugeta Temesgen from the FIC, Antenneh Maru from the financial sector and the project team.
Training of Police Officer – May 2021
The project team delivered training for 14 police trainers selected by the Ethiopia Police University. The trainees were drawn from various police academies in Ethiopia. The 5-day training covered an extensive range of subjects in financial crime detection and investigation.
The training competence of trainees was enhanced by the sessions on training and assessment methods delivered by expert consultant Mekonnen Bogale.
Training of Financial Investigators – April 2021
20 Ethiopian Federal Police Commission investigators received technical training in crime investigation. The training was convened at the Harmony Hotel – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The objective was to improve their effectiveness in investigating financial and economic crime, particularly money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Participants were selected from the Financial Investigation Directorate, the Corruption Crimes Investigation Directorate, the Tax and Customs Crimes Investigation Directorate, and the Organized Crime Investigation Directorate.
The curriculum covered the practical application of investigation techniques available in terms of the global and domestic legal frameworks. The training required them to tackle and resolve real cases using the investigation techniques covered.
Trainers included Assistant Comm Berhanu (Federal Police Commission) and team from ALM project: Biniam, Mekuria and Charles (who delivered training remotely using Zoom).
TOT Training for AG Prosecutors – March 2021
The Office of the Federal Attorney General was provided with training for 15 officials selected from several directorates. The training was intended to enable them to deliver training to their colleagues throughout Ethiopia on investigating and prosecuting money laundering and terrorist financing. The objective was to improve the capacity of the Attorney General’s Office to roll out training to new and experienced prosecutors, to sustain the progress being made by the project.
The training was delivered over four days from March 8-11, 2021. It gave trainees an insight into the money laundering and terrorist financing threats to Ethiopia, and covered the principles underlying current anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing measures. Practical aspects examined included the investigation of money laundering, the recovery of proceeds of crime and the challenges arising in activating cross-border cooperation.
The training was complemented by group practical case exercises and presentations.
Participants at the training venue in February 2021
Media and Communication Training – February 2021
The Tana project is assisting the AML/CFT competent authorities in Ethiopia to improve general awareness of money laundering (ML), the financing of terrorism (FT) and illicit financial flows (IFFs) through public information and education. To this end, Matt Freear, an international expert on communications based in Copenhagen, Denmark was requested to work with communications directorates at the AG’s Office, the EFIC, the FEACC and the Federal Police Commission. He also carried out an analysis of media reporting on ML, FT and IFFs in Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian diaspora media in the last three years. Based on the findings of the analysis and the consultations with the competent authorities, Tana convened a training workshop for government communication units and media experts from different institutions.
The workshop was held at the Harmony Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1st – 2nd February,2021. 29 participants from government communications units and private and government owned media attended the workshop. 16 of the participants were drawn from the AG’s Office, the EFIC, FEACC and the FPC .The other 13 were media practitioners from government owned media and the private media. The latter participated for the full first day , and up to lunch time on the 2nd day.
The project team facilitated the workshop, part of which was conducted virtually through presentations by Matt Freear (from Copenhagen ) and John Allan Namu (a media consultant from Kenya) and the Tana project team leader Charles Goredema (from Cape Town). Mr. Biniam Sheferawu from the Tana project team, Mr. Samson Tegene from the AG’s Office, and Ms. Abby Dinka from the FIC delivered their presentations in person in the first day sessions. On the second day after lunch Mr.Matt Freear made his presentation virtually for government communication experts.
Current Activities
Enhancing transparency of the Beneficial Ownership and control of legal entities
The Tana team is assisting the Ethiopian authorities to develop a framework to be used in the disclosure and capture of data on the Beneficial Ownership of legal entities. Beneficial Ownership concerns the natural persons who ultimately own or control a legal entity or arrangement,such as a company, a trust, a foundation, etc (OECD, 2019). The aim of this work is to deter the abuse of legal entities to commit crime or to conceal dealings with proceeds of crime. It is also intended to assist financial intelligence analysts and financial crime investigators.
Supporting financial crime investigation and prosecution
The Tana team has developed a manual to guide Ethiopian anti-money laundering and other practitioners in the investigation of financial crimes. The manual complements the work on tracking criminal activities and criminal assets. It will be used in several regional training workshops for prosecutors that the project has scheduled for November 2020
Supporting the 2nd National Risk Assessment
The Tana team is providing technical support to the 2nd National Risk Assessment, being conducted by 17 government departments and agencies, under the management and coordination of the Ministry of Peace. The 2nd NRA was launched on 14thOctober 2020 in Addis Ababa.
Reviewing and updating of the AML/CFT legislation
The Tana team is supporting the review and updating of the current Ethiopian AML/CFT law in order to ensure that it is fully aligned with the FATF Recommendations and enhance its effectiveness. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international body mandated to monitor and assist countries to increase the effectiveness of the international and national arrangements to counter money laundering and other forms of financial crime. It regularly reviews countries’ anti-money laundering laws and institutions and issues recommendations for improvements. Ethiopia has made progress against the FATF recommendations over recent years. This work is expected to run through the remainder of 2020.
Improving compliance supervision
The Tana team has assisted the FIC to develop standard operating procedures for Ethiopian compliance supervision authorities. It is developing guidelines to assist non-financial businesses and professions to comply with their AML/CFT obligations.
Improving public awareness of money laundering and terrorist financing
With the knowledge that the public has an important role in curbing money laundering and terrorist financing, the Tana team is working to improve the sharing of information on money laundering and terrorist financing between law enforcement and regulatory authorities and the public.
On-going and Forthcoming Support
The programme is helping the authorities to strengthen the transparency and disclosure of asset ownership (so-called beneficial ownership) as a means of pre-empting money laundering and/or financing of terrorism and to facilitate the investigation of economic crime and recovery of proceeds of crime.
The programme has been invited to contribute to the review and revision of Ethiopia’s AML legislation (Proclamation 780/2013) under the leadership of the EFIC. This will help to render it compliant with FATF’s Recommendations. The programme will support this process through three of its core team members.
The programme is supporting the public outreach activities of Ethiopia’s AML/CFT/IFF authorities through providing and knowledge management and information dissemination expertise.
The programme is working with the EFIC to produce a secure, updated and searchable database to house data on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities in Ethiopia. The database is expected to assist reporting institutions to comply with their AML/CFT due diligence obligations.
Capacity support will be given to the Directorate on Asset Recovery Training, in the AG’s Office. It will be in the form of advice on strategic planning, training and mentorship. Some of the capacity support will be delivered online.
Capacity support in compliance supervision will be provided to regulatory authorities (supervisory bodies) through the development of standard operating procedures and compliance guidelines. The supervisory bodies will be trained to use the guidelines.