The 25th UNAFEI UNCAC Training Programme“Effective Corruption Investigation Utilizing International Cooperation”
1. Duration and Participants From 2 to 28 November 2023
 30 overseas participants from 25 jurisdictions
 4 participants from Japan
2. Programme Overview
This programme focused on effective corruption investigation utilizing international
cooperation, in particular effective legal frameworks and measures in international
cooperation regarding the investigation of corruption cases with a view to securing
evidence which can be used in the criminal proceedings as well as to confiscate/recover
the criminal proceeds of corruption. The participants identified the challenges and shared
the possible solutions and good practices from the aspects of i) building a network amonglaw enforcement, ii) information sharing including through Interpol and FIUs, iii) official
cooperation through mutual legal assistance and joint investigation teams.
Also, this programme, through participants’ presentations, lectures and discussions,
aimed to enhance the participants’ mutual understandings and knowledge in regard tomeasures to improve anti-corruption crime efforts in their respective jurisdictions as wellas to establish a global network among the participants who are criminal justicepractitioners.
3. Contents of the Programme(1) Lecturers
The following visiting experts from overseas and Japanese experts, as well as
UNAFEI faculty members, gave lectures as follows:Visiting Experts- Dr. Badr El Banna
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Specialist, UNODC“Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative: Work & Highlights”- Ms. Rositsa Zaharieva
GlobE Network Coordinator, Corruption and Economic Crime Branch,
UNODC“Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement
Authorities”- Mr. Andrew Hanger
General Counsel – Criminal Assets Litigation, Australian Federal Police“Criminal Assets Confiscation and Corruption matters – Australia’sapproach”- Ms. Suet San Daphne Lim
Senior Principal Investigator, Independent Commission Against Corruption“Fighting Corruption: The Mission Continues”“Catching the Villains - International Cooperation”- Mr. Boštjan Lamešič-

Deputy National Member for Slovenia at Eurojust and Senior State
Prosecutor“Eurojust international judicial cooperation tools in corruption cases:
Effective Corruption Investigation Utilizing International Cooperation”
Mr. Federico Paesano
Senior Financial Investigation Specialist, Basel Institute on Governance“Cryptocurrency investigations and international cooperation”

Japanese Experts- Mr. KAYA Tomonobu
Assistant Director, INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre“Leveraging INTERPOL’s Capabilities and Tools in the Fight Against
Financial Crime and Corruption”- Mr. SAITO Takahiro
Deputy Director, Organized Crime Department, Criminal Investigation
Bureau, National Police Agency“Suspicious Transaction Reporting System and Practice in Japan”- Mr. YOSHIDA Masahiro
Mr. NAKAIMA Shinichi
Digital Forensic Centre, Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office“Overview of the Digital Forensic Centre and Smartphone Forensics”- Mr. WATANABE Naoki
Director, International Affairs Division, Criminal Affairs Bureau, Ministryof Justice“Effective International Cooperation in Corruption Cases”(2) Individual Presentations
Participants shared the practices and the challenges in their respective
jurisdictions regarding the theme of the programme through their individual
presentations. Materials for presentation and overview sheets which described thelegal system of respective participants’ countries were uploaded online in advancefor reference by participants.
(3) Group Workshops
The participants were divided into four groups. They were assigned to havediscussions on two parts. Part 1 was a fact-pattern exercise. All the participants
were asked to put themselves in the shoes of government officials who committed
a corruption crime and discussed how they would hide their crimes and bribes
from law enforcement as well as where to buy a vacation home overseas. The aimof Part 1 was to find gaps and shortcomings of present measures on corruption
investigation and international cooperation from the criminal’s point of view. In
part 2, the participants discussed the improvements to be made in international
cooperation for corruption cases based on the discussion of Part 1, and knowledge
obtained through lectures and participants’ presentations. Participants wererequired to develop an action plan which suggests improvements in international
cooperation.

In group discussions, participants pointed out the problems regarding highbank secrecy, award of golden passport or visa to foreign nationals who invest
more than a certain amount, and weak governance of financial institutions in somecountries. Also many of them agreed that the regulations of cryptocurrencies werenot enough. Furthermore, in international cooperation, the language barrier,lengthy time necessary for the execution of the requests, passive attitude ofrequested countries, limited resources allocated to the execution of the mutual legal
assistance request were identified as problems. In developing an action plan, eachgroup discussed the possible solutions to these various challenges. Each groupconcluded the programme by presenting their action plans to the fellow
participants and faculty of UNAFEI.
4. Feedback from the Participants
Most participants commented that the volume of the lectures, individual presentations
and group workshops were overall well balanced in the programme and were helpful togain knowledge. On the other hand, some commented that the duration of the programme
was a little long and would like to have more observation visits. We appreciate all thefeedback from the participants and will take them into consideration when planning ourfuture training programmes.
5. Comments from the Programming Officer
Corruption is often one of the most difficult crimes to investigate due to its secrecy
and the political power of an offender. Many countries had difficulties in proving theconnection between the criminal proceeds and predicate offences. This explains thebackground of criminalizing “illicit enrichment”, which is criminalized in more than halfof the participants countries. Moreover, some countries developed a legal framework toconfiscate the unexplained assets by administrative measures or based on non-convictionbased civil forfeiture. These measures, which enable the government to recover criminal
proceeds and other assets with a lesser burden of proof compared to criminal conviction,
seemed likely to be utilized more in the future.
In addition, Eurojust showed an effective model of international cooperation which
minimizes the many challenges pointed out by the participants and lecturers, namely,
differences in language and legal systems and limited resources allocated to the executionof mutual legal assistance requests. Though, it might be questionable whether Eurojustmodel would be equally effective for the whole world, it gives us a clue to the future
direction on international cooperation.
These are just a few observations on the outcome of this programme, which targetedvarious international cooperation. I hope the knowledge gained by the participants isuseful to improve their own practices.
We started to hold in-person training at UNAFEI’s facilities in May after the Covid19 pandemic, and we are glad no participants caught Covid or the flu. It was obvious thatin-person communication among both overseas and Japanese participants throughout theprogramme made it more effective to understand the legal systems and practices of othercountries as well as to establish personal connections. We hope that this personal network
will contribute to solving corruption crimes through international cooperation.