Pleading for institutional strengthening against money laundering

Pleading for institutional strengthening against money laundering
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 06/10/2011

Colombian attorney Beatriz Arenas Montalvo, an expert in the fight against money laundering, called on all countries to strengthen their institutions and to maintain continuous monitoring and tracking, through a change of behavior of its employees vis-à-vis their duties.

In her view, the increasing infiltration of organized crime in the economy is one of the factors that are hindering economic growth. “Organized crime activities, such as money laundering and corruption, divert money from the legal economy thereby eroding growth.”

According to Arenas Montalvo, with this change in behavior public and civil servants will develop skills and abilities that will enable them to detect the presence of a client, an office mate, involved in an illegal action, and thus this may help reduce the risks by warning of the problem early and by undertaking the necessary control measures.

Arenas Montalvo was one of the specialists from more than a dozen countries who participated in the International Conference on Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, which was held recently at the Paradisus Punta Cana Hotel.

The specialist, an adviser to the US State Department Narcotics Affairs Section, drew attention to the growing and dangerous black market for counterfeits. “They are forging from a knife to aircraft spare parts.” In this regard, she pleaded for becoming familiar with the economic structure of organized crime as a way of establishing a better system of protection of society.

In her view, the increasing infiltration of organized crime in the economy is one of the factors that are hindering economic growth. “Organized crime activities, such as money laundering and corruption, divert money from the legal economy thereby eroding growth.”

With regard to money laundering – said Arenas Montalvo – “governments are losing the battle due to the high levels of corruption perceived at all levels, which are generated by the power of money from criminal activities.”