Senegalese FIU visits Monaco

Marie-Pascale Boisson, SICCFIN Director, surrounded by the Senegalese delegation and her colleagues. ©DR

A delegation comprising two representatives from the Senegalese National Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CENTIF), the counterpart to Monaco’s SICCFIN, was in the Principality on 11 and 12 October 2017 for a familiarisation visit.

The aim of this kind of visit is to enable staff from financial intelligence units (FIUs) to supplement their training and knowledge in the fields of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF) through meetings with investigators and auditors from other FIUs. The visits offer opportunities to share experience and discuss the specific actions FIUs are taking to combat these two scourges.

During their visit, the representatives from the Senegalese FIU were able to talk to SICCFIN staff (from the investigation and oversight sections), as well as to representatives from the Police Department (Serious Fraud Squad). They also reviewed international judicial cooperation during meetings arranged at the Department of Justice, most notably with the Public Prosecution Department.

Familiarisation visits also seek to strengthen cooperative ties between FIUs which, like Senegal’s CENTIF and Monaco’s SICCFIN, have signed cooperation agreements based on the framework agreement validated by the Egmont Group* (see below).

SICCFIN and Senegal’s CENTIF signed such an agreement on 30 June 2010.

Requests to visit Monaco from other FIUs are also evidence of the fact that SICCFIN’s peers recognise the quality of the work carried out by the unit’s staff and the commitment of the Principality to AML/CTF. SICCFIN regularly hosts visits from other FIUs. Two years ago, the unit hosted a delegation from the Côte d’Ivoire CENTIF, followed by another from the Nigerian CENTIF.

* Egmont Group

The Egmont Group is an international forum established in 1995 at the initiative of the Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTIF) and the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). It brings together, at the global level, the authorities responsible for receiving and processing reports of suspected money laundering and terrorist financing.

The key objectives of the Egmont Group are: 

•             to develop international cooperation by sharing information

•             to improve the effectiveness of financial intelligence units through exchange and staff training programmes

•             to promote the operational independence of financial intelligence units

•             to promote the establishment of financial intelligence units which adhere to the same international standards and follow the same operational approach to handling money laundering and terrorist financing cases

The Egmont Group has also developed a secure platform via which financial intelligence units can communicate and share information. Known as “Egmont Secure Web”, it complements the European FIU-NET system.

The Egmont Group currently has 156 members.