of their use for illegal purposes. we need to up skill our supervisors to be able to properly assess these modern products, instruments and systems. the on site supervision of financial institutions now includes examination of anti money laundering. key concepts like cdd ( customer due diligence ) and kyc ( know your customer ) are well in place in our commercial banks and other non - bank institutions. i know that these controls incur costs which are invariably borne by customers. but in my view the cost of not having them in place for the whole country can be even more. capacity building let me end with a word on capacity building. we can have the best laws to combat money laundering, the best system to prosecute the offenders and the best database but if we lack the human capacity to implement them then our efforts will be in vain. building local capacity must therefore be at the forefront of our efforts. supervisors and analysts must be able to know what to ask and where to look. at the bank and the fiu, this capacity building is an ongoing priority. needless to say, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies must also be adequately resourced in people, facilities and technology if we are to have a chance to successfully investigate and prosecute criminals. conclusion in concluding, let me repeat that it ’ s in everyone ’ s responsibility to do something about “ protecting fiji from money laundering ”. i urge those of us here today, to be champions in this global war on money laundering. we live in an integrated world where financial systems have been regularly subjected to crisis. the present one seems to be the mother of all crises. the global economic fall out is painful. wealth has been virtually halved over night. massive job losses have occurred across the globe. these are indeed unprecedented times. if ever there was a time to work closely together and collaborate on an integrated approach this is it. we need a collaborative approach to our economic challenges. and we certainly need the same collaborative approach to fighting money laundering. we each have a role to play and i look forward to your corporation i now have the pleasure of formally closing the 2009 national anti - money laundering conference. vinaka vakalevu.

audit of the bank. the fiu has already published its annual report. i would like to see that the next report also include its financial accounts. obviously, an agency like the fiu can never be fully transparent in its operations. this is taken. but in my view it will still need to be transparent in the results of its work. these results are already included in its annual report and other publications. summary of some notable achievements we have come a long way since we established an informal fiu in the rbf. some of the notable achievements of fiji ’ s anti - money framework that i would like to mention this afternoon are as follows : 1. we now have comprehensive anti - money laundering laws that includes the proceeds of crime act, mutual assistance in criminal matters act and financial transactions reporting act together with its regulations. this has virtually completed our legislation work. 2. we have formally established the national aml officials committee under the act and formed various sub committees to assist in its work. 3. we have widened the coverage of the act to commercial banks, non - bank financial institutions, as well as other financial service providers and businesses ( such as lawyers, accountants & real estate agents ). 4. we have started to report the results of the suspicious transaction reporting framework. 5. we have introduced the $ 10, 000 border currency reporting, $ 10, 000 cash transaction reporting, and the reporting of all international electronic funds transfers. 6. we have set up special investigation units such as, the transnational crime unit, the police money laundering investigation unit, and firca ’ s fraud & evasion unit. 7. we have developed the fiu ’ s online electronic reporting and data management it system that the minister launched this morning. international obligations where do we stand on global anti - money laundering standards? the minister this morning referred to the world bank assessment of fiji ’ s framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing in early 2006. i am happy to say that we have not done too badly as a small developing island nation. at the same time, fiji has worked hard since the publication of the report to implement many of the key recommendations. these include the border currency reporting framework that i have mentioned and the issuance of the ftr regulations. what will happen if we fail to comply with these international standards? we will send out a signal to criminals that they can launder money through our country. we can then be blacklisted by the international community. sending money to fiji