The 4th National Conference on Combating Organised Crime with a focus on Anti-Money Laundering, Mutual Legal Assistance and Evidence in Criminal Proceeding took place in Vientiane on 11th -13th February.
A number of officials from the Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor, international experts from Institute for Legal Support and Technical Assistance (ILSTA), authorities from 17 provinces and distinguished guests from embassies recently gathered for the 4th National Conference. This year Laos will face its second mutual evaluation by the Asia Pacific Group on money laundering to assess Laos’ implementation of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations. The recommendations are a set of countermeasures against money laundering covering the criminal justice system and law enforcement, the financial system and its regulation, and international cooperation.
The National Conference supports Laos’ reform agenda to graduate from Least Developed Country status and address organised crime-related challenges. Laos is party to the international conventions addressing these matters and over the past year has been disseminating its first Penal Code (2017) and Criminal Procedure Law (2017).
The meeting was cochaired by the Charge d’Affaires of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Laos, Mr Sam Schreiner, and President of ILSTA Mr Richard Philippart, and Mr Chanty Polivanh, Head of Department of monitoring and Inspection of Criminal Case Proceeding. Mr chanty said he was delighted to be invited to chair the conference. “We appreciate the support of our international partners in organising this important event, and also acknowledge the efforts of provincial officials to tackle organised crime nationwide,” he added. Mr Philippart said organised crime is complex and often adapts to judicial and economic environments, tapping into structural and geographical weak spots of countries to set up their activities and develop their illegal industry. “ In the fight against this type of crime, law enforcement agencies need to keep pace with developments, and also improve the implementation of legislative framework in order to prevent, investigate and prosecute cases of organised crime and money laundering, as well as strengthen international cooperation”, he added.
During the three-day conference participants had the chance to interact with experts from Luxembourg, France, Thailand, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Bulgaria. ILSTA will be conducting three follow-up workshops in the coming months in the north, centre and south of Laos.
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