Viet Nam prosecutors enhance the knowledge of environmental crime and anti-money laundering

The training courses that took place in Hanoi (from 13 April to 15 April, 2015) and Ho Chi Minh city (from 15 April to 17 April, 2015) attracted approximately 80 prosecutors to increase their knowledge of environmental crime and their capacity to apply financial investigation techniques in investigating and dealing with relevant cases.

Viet Nam serves as an important source, transit and destination country for wildlife and timber trading, especially high valued products namely rhino horn, pangolin scales and elephant ivory. Although Viet Nam signed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1994 and the Vietnamese government has issued specific legal documents related to this crime, the situation of Vietnam's wildlife and forest is still alarming. For example, the last rhino in Viet Nam is considered to have been killed in 2010. Wildlife and timber crime in Viet Nam are part of an upsurge of transnational organized crime in Africa and other regions in Asia.

"Environmental and money laundering crime pose a significant threat to social sustainability. Their activities are often embedded with transnational organized crime, which creates serious problems to the society and creates conditions for corruption. During these years, Viet Nam functional authorities have made a lot of effort in combating environmental crime. However, to address the increasingly complex phenomenon of this situation, it needs more cooperation and action from Viet Nam prosecutors and relevant organization, including United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The training sessions organized by UNODC are a good opportunities for prosecutors to equip knowledge and gain experience from international experts about this serious crime." – said Mr Do Manh Bong, Deputy Head of Department for Prosecution and Supervision over Investigation of Economic and Position-Related Case, Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam.

During the seminars, UNODC experts provided the understandings of the conception of money laundering, the financial investigation techniques relating to wildlife and environmental crimes. After that, the participants worked in groups to solve practical exercises delivered by the experts. Anti- money laundering law of Viet Nam was also introduced to the procuracy officials.

Ms. Rhiannon Hudson-Jones, Advisor from UNODC Viet Nam emphasized the importance of enhancing knowledge about how to combat the rise in transnational organized wildlife and forest crime, especially through use of anti money laundering legislation. "Wildlife crime is big business and prosecutors have a vital role to play to safeguard Vietnam's biodiversity, communities, economy and security" – added Ms. Rhiannon.

"This workshop with visual presentations from experienced experts enabled me to learn more about identifying, investigating and locating the proceeds of money laundering in relation to environmental crime cases. Through three days training, I have gained a lot of useful knowledge for my daily job." – Hoang Xuan Dieu, a representative from Ha Tinh Provincial People's Procuracy shared.

The training seminar on environmental crime and anti money laundering for prosecutors is one activity in the UNODC Programme relating to Transnational Organized Crime, which aims at providing technical assistance, focusing on strengthening inter-agency cooperation, enhancing data collection and analysis as well as improving the technical skills of front-line law enforcement officers.