KEYNOTE ADDRESSbyMr. Masaki SASAKI,
Directorof
UNAFEIat the opening of“THE 27TH CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONALSYMPOSIUM ON ECONOMIC CRIME”(31 August 2009)1

The Executive Director and Co-Chairman of “THECAMBRIDGE

INTERNATIONALSYMPOSIUMON

ECONOMIC CRIME”, Professor Barry A.K. Rider, distinguishedparticipants, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege andpleasure for me to be given the opportunity to deliver a keynote
address at the opening of this significant symposium.

At the outset, I would like to give a brief overview of myinstitute, the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for thePrevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, commonly
known as UNAFEI.
UNAFEI was established in 1962 by agreement between theUnited Nations and the Government of Japan. The major focus of
the activities of UNAFEI is to organize and conduct, on a regularbasis, international training courses and seminars for practitioners
in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. UNAFEI
endeavours to assist in the sound development of criminal justice2

systems and one of the current emphases of its work is
strengthening of mutual co-operation between the UN Member
States, in particular, developing countries in the Asia and Pacificregion. We invite criminal justice practitioners, including judges,prosecutors, police investigators, corrections officials, andrehabilitation specialists from Asian countries and other regionsof the world to participate in these courses and seminars, so thatthe course of study is practical, not just theoretical, and theparticipants can address the particular problems considered by thecourse in the context of their justice system as a whole. Given theinternational nature of the participation in our courses andseminars, participants are also strongly encouraged to take acomparative approach in considering the various issues.
With regard to our faculty, experienced and learned
practitioners from the full spectrum of the Japanese criminal
justice system are selected to serve as faculty members. We haveprofessionals from the prosecution service, judiciary, correctional
institutions, probation office and the police force. My own3

professional background is in the prosecution service, where I
have 30 years of experience.
UNAFEI continues to be administered under the joint
auspices of the United Nations and the Government of Japan,
meaning that training and research programmes are developed inclose contact with the United Nations, and regular reports on
UNAFEI’s activities are submitted to both the United Nations andthe Government of Japan.
In the 47 years since its inception, UNAFEI has welcomed
more than 4,100 participants from more than 130 countries. Twothousand eight hundred of these participants are from overseas
and the others are Japanese. Although the Institute’s name is theUnited Nations Asia and Far East Institute, over the years we havewelcomed participants from parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, theMiddle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.
UNAFEI is also recognized as the oldest member of theUnited

Nations

Crime

PreventionandCriminalJustice

Programme Network Institutes (PNI). This requires that UNAFEI

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contributes, as a co-ordinator, to the planning and organization ofthe workshops held within the framework of the United Nations
Congresses on crime prevention and criminal justice. In fact,
UNAFEI is now planning the Workshop on the “Strategies andbest practices against overcrowding of correctional facilities” tobe held at the 12th Congress in Brazil next year.

Distinguished participants,

I would now like to introduce some of UNAFEI’s activities
concerning economic crime. In recent years, UNAFEI has
conducted a considerable number of training courses andseminars relating to this issue. For example:
 In 2009, we held a course on Effective Legal and Practical
Measures for Combating Corruption: A Criminal Justice
Response; In 2008, we addressed Corporate Crime and the Criminal
Liability of Corporate Entities;5 In 2007, we conducted a course on theme of Challenges inthe Investigation, Prosecution and Trial of TransnationalOrganized Crime;
In 2004, we held three courses on the topic of economic crime,
as follows: Measures to Combat Economic Crime, Including MoneyLaundering; Economic Crime in a Globalizing Society - Its Impact on
the Sound Development of the State; and The Current Situation and Countermeasures against Money
Laundering.

Through these training courses and seminars, we havediscussed many practical problems relating to tackling economiccrime. Hereafter, I would like to summarize the content of someof our discussions and deliberations.
Firstly, I will address the increasing threat of economiccrime, and secondly, I will mention the response to the increasing

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threat of economic crime and practical issues in investigation,prosecution and adjudication.

1. The Increasing Threat of Economic Crime

Economic crime is one of the most serious problems now
facing the international community. Economic crime includes abroad range of illegal activities: from conventional types－such
as fraud, embezzlement, breach of trust and corruption, andsubmission of securities reports containing false information－tonewly recognized types－such as offences in which criminals
abuse the financial system; offences against free and fair trade(private monopolization, bid-rigging, foreign bribery, bankruptcyfraud); violation of intellectual property rights; fraudulent pricemanipulation and insider trading in the stock/financial markets;and money laundering. These new types of crimes, especiallylarge-scale cases, have recently become the focus of publicattention.

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Economic crime also covers many activities instrumental tothe above mentioned offences, such as forgery of documents andpayment cards and computer related crimes, especially the misuseof the Internet.
Economic crime encompasses corporate crimes including
window-dressing, tax evasion and violation of regulations, and on
the other hand, consumer fraud, such as pyramid schemes, which
can often involve many victims.
Furthermore, experience has shown us that these various
forms of economic crime are often interwoven and interrelated;for example, a criminal group may be involved in fraud or
embezzlement using various fraudulent methods in collusion withcorrupt public officials or company executives, and then launder
their ill-gotten money.
Thus, there are crimes involving corporations not only as
criminals but as victims, such as when an employee abuses
his/her position. And, just as this symposium focuses on theproblem of the vulnerability of banking and financial institutions

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to threats from within their operations and structures, the threat ofbanks and other financial institutions being inveigled into money
laundering and other abusive schemes which undermine thereputation and stability of the institution and expose it to legal andregulatory risks is very real.

The reason why economic crime has become more serious isthat it now often takes place beyond national borders. The
globalization of the economy as well as rapid development andthe worldwide spread of communications technology, including
the Internet, have offered to criminals new and easier
opportunities

tocommit

economiccrimetransnationally.

Economic crime sometimes creates a great number of victims andsubstantial loss, leads to the bankruptcy of companies, and canalso cause great damage to public property. Besides such direct
damage, this crime may have a deleterious impact on legitimate
business, undercut confidence in and the reputation of thefinancial system, destabilize the market economy and ultimately

9undermine sound socio-economic development in each affected
country.
One of the characteristics of recent economic crime is thecomplex and sophisticated nature of its modus operandi. There
has been a dramatic increase in the use of advanced technology;
criminals fully exploit the Internet and electronic commerce tocommit their offences. For example, they conduct multiple frauds
against many victims simultaneously, and also carry out identitytheft and identity fraud as well as consumer fraud and auction
fraud using fraudulent or fake web-sites. The transnational natureof this crime hampers its detection, and makes the tracing andreturn of the proceeds of crime much more difficult. In addition tothat, evidence preserved in computers can be instantaneously
altered or destroyed.
Another remarkable characteristic is that most economic
crimes are committed, on a large scale and in a well-organizedfashion, by groups. Such groups range from organized criminalgroups to legitimate companies. In such cases, it is difficult for10the authorities to gather information from insiders and to outline
fully the scope of their illegal activities, which hinders theauthorities from bringing the leaders to justice.

2. Response to the Increasing Threat of Economic Crime
and Practical Issues in Investigation, Prosecution andAdjudication

Each country has to recognize the gravity of this newchallenge and tackle economic crime with more effective
countermeasures.

To begin with, we need to examine ways to improve
investigation, prosecution and trial.
First, we should take into consideration the establishment ofa special investigation unit or agency consisting of experts whohave sufficient expertise and capacity to appropriately tackle
complicated economic crimes.

11Secondly, considering that influential politicians andhigh-ranking public officials may sometimes be deeply involvedin economic crimes, the investigative agencies should act
independently so as not to be subject to their influence.
Thirdly, concerning investigative methods, in addition to theimprovement of conventional methods, new types of investigativetechniques such as interception of communications andundercover operations should be introduced and utilized.
Moreover, it is necessary to consider introducing a system ofprotection of whistle-blowers and/or immunity for the purpose ofcollecting information and critical statements. It is also imperative
to establish enforceable measures to collect records from financial
institutions and not to allow investigative authorities to behampered by bank secrecy laws.
Fourthly, at the trial stage, in cases where witnesses arereluctant to testify due to fear of retaliation by the offenders orrelated criminal groups, we need to explore measures for securingtheir testimony, such as witness protection programmes.

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Next, we need to review and strengthen our legal framework
to combat various types of emerging economic crimes, and todiscuss the punishment of legal persons. There are various viewsin respect of the imposition of sanctions for economic crimes: forexample, some say that criminal sanctions against economic
crime are too lenient, and others say that civil or administrative
sanctions should be more widely utilized in combination withcriminal punishment. Since we need to pay due attention tovarious factors, it is important to determine what kinds ofsanctions against economic crime are more effective and should
be taken.
Because economic crime is committed in order to gain profit,
it is critical to deprive criminals of the proceeds of crime. By
doing so, we can deprive criminals of their incentive to commit
crime. It is therefore imperative to establish an appropriate legal
framework for the forfeiture and confiscation of illegal proceeds
as well as for the freezing of illegally acquired funds. To this end13

we have to strengthen and implement mechanisms for tracing
money both domestically and internationally.
It is also necessary to establish mechanisms to combat
money laundering. Such measures include: promoting customer
due diligence (CDD) measures in financial institutions, such as
identifying the beneficial owner to prevent anonymous accounts
being opened; imposing a legal duty on financial institutions tomake suspicious transaction reports (STR) to the designatedauthority; establishing a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); andensuring that designated law enforcement authorities have aresponsibility for money laundering investigations.
Due to the global nature of economic crime, international
co-operation and the harmonization of countermeasures by allcountries are indispensable, especially so as not to create safe
havens for criminals and their illicit proceeds. If some countries
do not join our concerted battle, illicit funds will flow into thosecountries to be laundered. In this context, all countries need towork together by implementing the international standards shown14

by the United Nations－such as “the UN Convention against
Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substancesin1988”, “the UN Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime in 2000”, and “the UN Convention against Corruption in2003”－, and “The Forty Recommendations” of the Financial
Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF). In addition, we
have to make every effort to explore better ways to ensure thatinternational co-operation, including information exchangemechanisms and mutual legal assistance and extradition, is carriedout in a more effective and expeditious manner.

On the other hand, the importance of “prevention” ofeconomic crime cannot be overlooked. Every government andcorporation should be required to establish a legal and/ororganizational system of “good governance” so that transparency
and accountability are ensured. The introduction of an
independent monitoring organization and/or an ombudsman
system for this purpose is worthy of consideration. Additionally,15

public awareness and education in relation to economic crime isessential.

Distinguished participants,

I have sketched out a broad summary of several of the main
issues relating to economic crime that we have addressed atUNAFEI. These issues have recently been discussed by theprofessors and participants of our international training courses
and seminars.
We would be honoured and pleased if this small contribution
proves meaningful and useful for you in your endeavours against
economic crime.

Thank you very much for your attention.

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