Guyana Wants Specialist Forensic Auditors Training For the Region
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has told a visiting delegation from the Europe-Latin America Programme of Assistance against Transnational Organised Crime (EL PACCTO) that the Caribbean region can benefit greatly from specialist forensic auditors and expert training in the investigation of financial crimes to track the money and proceeds of crime.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC, said the training will be useful in investigating, successfully prosecuting, and obtaining judgment against these major criminal elements and actors.
EL PACCTO is an European Union-funded project that seeks to contribute to security and justice in Latin America and the Caribbean by supporting the fight against transnational organised crime.
The delegation is currently visiting Caribbean countries in an effort to identify practical and necessary areas of support and capacity building in this endeavour to combat transnational organised crime.
It said that El PACCTO’s deployment in the Caribbean will be a regional project, and will involve regional institutions such as the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) and the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS).
In welcoming the delegation, Nandlall underscored the importance of the project in the region, and in Guyana, at this transformational time in country’s history.
He said spoke of Guyana’s position as a major oil producer with the increased demand for the necessary legal and policy framework and infrastructure to excel as a growing industry leader, noting the government’s objective to ensure that the interests of its nationals and investors alike are protected from the vulnerabilities of transnational organised crime.
He said in this regard, EL PACCTO’s mission to foster cooperation and collaboration across borders in the fight against transnational organised crime is laudable and welcome. Some of EL PACCTO’s primary areas of focus include activities of drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, environmental crimes, cybercrime, and human trafficking.
The El PACCTO delegation, led by Marc Reina Tortosa, Senior Executive Manager, said the discussions here provided the opportunity for identifying areas for collaboration as well as providing the foundation for the several other meetings the team will be engaged later on Tuesday and Wednesday.
