Supporting efforts to tackle Corruption and other Financial Crimes during COVID-19 - 07 April 2022

The Regional Centre of Excellence (“RCE”) of the Financial Services Commission, Mauritius (“FSC”) in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”), has the pleasure to invite you or a representative(s) from your organisation to attend a virtual workshop on “Supporting efforts to tackle Corruption and other Financial Crimes during COVID-19” on Thursday, 07 April 2022 at 13.30 - 16.30hrs (Mauritius Time).

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the lives of many people worldwide and required governments to introduce sweeping public procurement and economic support packages to address the health and economic crisis faced by their citizens. In many instances, governments authorised significant public procurement packages through simplified and accelerated procedures.

The significant public expenditures, in combination with simplified procedures and less oversight by traditional public procurement safeguards, created integrity risks for corruption and other misconduct in the award of health and infrastructure projects to address COVID-19. Simultaneously, governments introduced extensive lockdown measures, limited the delivery of in-person government services and judiciary functions, and restricted movements across national borders in response to the spread of COVID-19, which posed unique challenges to law enforcement’s ability to detect, investigate and prosecute corruption cases.

Nevertheless, there has been a number of high profile cases globally, including in Africa, related to public procurement of medical supplies and personal protection equipment, as well as, economic support packages. Emerging corruption-related case typologies show the involvement of Politically Exposed Persons, opaque beneficial ownership structures and corresponding money laundering and asset forfeiture cases related to emergency procurement and COVID-19 funding.

This upcoming workshop, in association with the OECD, will cover the work conducted by the OECD, relevant international organisations and countries in the region, to support anti-corruption efforts during the COVID-19.

The first session will provide a general overview of the OECD’s work and legal instruments, including the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the related 2021 OECD Recommendation, as well as, outline the Anti-Corruption Division’s (ACD) support of regional law enforcement networks during the COVID-19. The session will also highlight the importance of co-operation and co-ordination between a variety of national, regional and international stakeholders to support national reforms and tackle corruption, foreign bribery and other related financial crimes.

The second session will explore national approaches to preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting corruption and financial crime cases. Additionally, speakers will reflect on key challenges, as well as, the solutions identified to facilitate anti-corruption efforts during the COVID-19.

You are invited to register for the workshop on the following link latest by Tuesday, 05 April 2022, at noon (Mauritius Time).

Link to Register 

e-Certificate of attendance:

An e-Certificate of attendance will be issued only to those who have attended the full event.

Note on e-Certificate of attendance:

You are kindly requested to sign in for the event with your FULL NAME so as the RCE can issue the e-Certificate. In case a group of participants will attend the event under one login, you are kindly requested to send the details of the participants on rce@fscmauritius.org by latest Friday, 08 April 2022 at 2 pm.

Failure to provide the full name and details of the participants will result in non-issuance of e-Certificate.

We look forward to your active participation in this virtual workshop. Please feel free to share the details of the event with your contacts who may be interested in this particular topic.

Should you have any queries, kindly contact us either on rce@fscmauritius.org or Ms Kirti Tohul by phone on (+230) 404 5652 or (+230) 403 7000 (Ext.7367).

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Agenda

Mr. Patrick Moulette

Head of the Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) in the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs

Mr Patrick Moulette is the Head of the ACD in the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs.  In this role, Mr Moulette leads the work of the 44-country Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, including the process of evaluating the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. 

Mr Moulette previously served for 10 years as Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which safeguards the global financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing. Previously, he worked for the Department of the Treasury of the French Ministry of Finance. 

Mr Moulette is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies ("Sciences-Po") and has Masters’ degrees in Public Law and in Corporate Law. He regularly speaks in public events related to international anti-corruption and financial crime issues.

Mr.Rajeshsharma Ramloll

Solicitor General at the Attorney-General’s Office

Mr Rajeshsharma Ramloll, SC joined the Board of the FSC Mauritius in May 2014 and has been appointed as Vice Chairperson since 26 April 2019. He is currently the Solicitor General at the Attorney-General’s Office.

He is currently the President of the International Fiscal Association, Mauritius Branch.

Mr Ramloll is a fellow of the Hon. Society of Advanced Legal Studies (London) and is a member of the General Council of the International Fiscal Association. He has been the treasurer of the Bar Council for three consecutive years.

He regularly advises the Government on legal aspects of financial matters and is a tax assessor of the OECD’s Global Forum and is an author of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (Netherlands).

He has written widely in international tax journals and is on the editorial boards of Global Taxation, International Taxation and Foundation of international Taxation journals. Mr Ramloll has contributed book chapters to the Offshore World Survey (1998, Sweet and Maxwell) and GAAR General Tax – Anti Avoidance Rules (2021, Thomson Reuters Legal). He is a regular speaker at international conferences and conducts Master classes in international Taxation at University faculties abroad (including the University of Lausanne).

Mr Ramloll took silk in 2016 and was made Senior Counsel (SC) by Letters Patent on commendation by the Chief Justice.

Mr Ramloll is a barrister at Law and holds a specialist LLM in taxation and finance from the Centre for Commercial law Studies, Queen Mary, London.

Mr. Dhanesswurnath Thakoor

The Chief Executive, Financial Services Commission, (FSC)

Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor is the Chief Executive of the FSC Mauritius since 18 May 2020.

Mr Thakoor spearheaded results-driven initiatives at the level of FSC Mauritius to complete the action items to address strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF. These efforts have been instrumental for Mauritius to exit the FATF grey-list in October 2021.

Mr Thakoor has been at the forefront in the establishment of a modern regulatory framework of innovative financial products and services such as Peer-to-Peer Lending, Special Purpose Fund and robotic and artificial intelligence-enabled advisory services, amongst others. He also spearheaded, in his capacity as Chief Executive, a number of digitalised driven projects amongst which the FSC One platform and the National Insurance Claims Database project.

Prior to joining the FSC Mauritius, he held the post of Assistant Director - Payments Systems and the Mauritius Credit Information Bureau at the Bank of Mauritius (BoM). He was also a member of the internal Fintech Committee and a member of the National Regulatory Sandbox License technical committee at the BoM.

In his capacity as Chief Executive, Mr Thakoor represents the FSC Mauritius in a number of international regulatory bodies and committees including the International Organisation of Securities Commissions, the International Association of Insurers Supervisors, the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Committee of Insurance, Securities and NonBanking Financial Authorities.

Mr Thakoor is a member of the Core Group for AML/CFT, the National AML/CFT Committee, the Interagency Coordination Committee, the National Regulatory Sandbox Licence Committee, the National Sanctions Committee, the National Committee on Corporate Governance, the FSC Regional Centre of Excellence Governing Board and the Financial Reporting Council.

He holds a Masters’ Degree in Information Technology, Electronics and Systems Automation from Polytech Lille - France (Ex Ecole Universitaire d’Ingénieurs de Lille) and an MBA with Specialisation in Finance. He has over 25 years of Central Banking experience.

Dr. Navin Beekarry,

Director-General, Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Mauritius

Dr Navin Beekarry is the Director-General of the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), Mauritius since July 2016. He is a lawyer and an expert in the fields of anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, asset recovery and terrorism financing. He also has expertise in blockchain technology and crypto assets.

He has worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the G20. Dr Navin Beekarry has also held, as an officer of the Attorney General’s Office in Mauritius from 1984 to 2002, the post of the Assistant Solicitor-General and Acting Director of Public Prosecutions.

Dr Beekarry holds a PhD in law from the George Washington University, Washington D.C, USA and an LLM from the London School of Economics, UK. He was a Visiting Scholar and Researcher at the Harvard Law School, and Associate Fellow at the George Washington University Law School, USA. He holds a Certificate in Block chain Technologies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA.

In December 2020, as Chair of the Sub-Committee of the Core Group on AML/CFT, set up with to expedite preparations to remove Mauritius from the FATF “grey list”, he led and oversaw all preparatory work to implement FATF Action Plan on AML/CFT in order to address the strategic deficiencies identified by FATF ICRG. The result was the successful exit of Mauritius from the FATF ICRG list in October 2021. He is presently the co-Chair of the Core Group on AML/CFT.

He has undertaken a number of publications and contributed in numerous specialised journals and published a book on “Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Finance: Past and Current Challenges”.

Ms. Elsa Gopala Krishnan

Senior Legal Analyst, ACD and Secretariat to the Working Group on Bribery, OECD

Ms Elsa Gopala Krishnan is the Senior Legal Analyst, ACD and Secretariat to the Working Group on Bribery at the OECD.

She conducts country monitoring for the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and leads global relations work to support the Working Group on Bribery, in particular in the Africa region.

Ms Gopala Krishnan previously worked at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna as Crime prevention and criminal justice officer in the Secretariat to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Subsequently, she was seconded as Financial Sector Specialist to the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, a joint UNODC and World Bank partnership for the implementation of UNCAC Chapter V 'Asset Recovery' in Washington D.C.

Ms. Martha Monterrosa

Anti-Corruption Analyst, ACD, OECD and Secretariat to the Working Group on Bribery

Ms Martha Monterrosa is the Anti-Corruption Analyst, ACD, at the OECD and Secretariat to the Working Group on Bribery.

Ms Monterrosa conducts country monitoring for the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, as well as, supports the ACD’s work related to the Global Law Enforcement Response to Corruption in Crisis Situations project and activities in the Africa region.

She previously worked as a legal advisor to the Sanctions Officer of the Inter-American Development Bank and was a litigation consultant in the Integrity Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group, which investigates fraud and corruption in Bank-financed operations.

Prior to this, she was a litigation associate at an international law firm in Canada. Ms Monterrosa is admitted to practice in Canada and New York State.

Mr. Anand Ramaswamy

ICHIP (International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property), Attorney Advisor for sub-Saharan Africa

Mr Anand Ramaswamy serves as an ICHIP, Attorney Advisor for sub-Saharan Africa. ICHIPS are the U.S. Department of Justice’s subject matter experts who conduct training for law enforcement, prosecutors and judges worldwide. He is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attached to the U.S. Mission to the African Union.

Mr Ramaswamy has prosecuted crime since 1999, first for the State of North Carolina, and later for the U.S. Department of Justice. He specialised at different times in crimes involving vulnerable victims, in the areas of domestic violence, human trafficking, and online child sexual exploitation. He helped in proposing and passing two new state criminal laws arising from his cases. Mr Ramaswamy has been a Cybercrime Prosecutor for a decade, working on matters including the Emotet malware botnet case.

Mr. Pieter Alberts

Acting Executive Manager in the Financial Intelligence Centre and overseeing the Monitoring and Analysis Division

Mr Alberts is the Acting Executive Manager in the Financial Intelligence Centre and overseeing the Monitoring and Analysis Division. Prior to his career at the FIC, he was with Deloitte Advisory and Forensics and part of Commercial Crime Unit of the South African Police Service (Hawks). He has extensive experience in the prevention, detection and investigation of complex financial crimes. Mr Alberts holds a Master’s degree in Forensic Accountancy from the North West University and is a Forensic Practitioner (FP) SA, Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Major General Mokgadi Bokaba

HAWKS Provincial Head for Free State Province

Major General Mokgadi Bokaba is the HAWKS Provincial Head for Free State Province, responsible for three operational unit Serious Corruption, Serious Organised Crime, Serious Commercial Investigations and two Operational Support environment focusing crime threat analysis and priority crime specialised investigations – focusing on Money Laundering, Asset Forfeiture Investigation and Cybercrime. Prior to my promotion, I served as a Brigadier within the South African Police Service responsible for Financial Investigations with focus for Money Laundering and Financial crimes. Before joining South African Police Service she was Senior Special Investigator within Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority and before that she was a Senior Investigator as the South Africa Revenue Service focusing on various tax legislations.

She has extensive knowledge in investigation of financial crimes, asset tracking and recovery as well tax investigation. She has served as an AML/CFT assessor for Malawi and Zambia. She holds a B-Tech in Forensic Investigations from UNISA and is a Forensic Practitioner (FP) SA, Associate Certified Fraud Examiner.

Ms. Gomtee KULLOOTEE

Acting Assistant Director of Investigations, Anti-Money Laundering Division at the ICAC

Ms Kullootee presently holds the post of Acting Assistant Director of Investigations, Anti-Money Laundering Division at the ICAC. Ms Kullootee joined the ICAC in year 2007 as Senior Investigator. She has more than 15 years’ experience in investigating money laundering cases, including high profile cases and in the offshore sector.

Prior to ICAC, she was employed in the IT sector. Ms Kullootee has a wide knowledge in asset tracing and conducting Networth analysis. She is currently a representative of ICAC on Immediate outcome sub committees for the implementation of international standards and national strategy on AML/CFT.

Ms Kullootee is a holder of a BSc (Hons) Information Systems from the University of Mauritius and a MSc International Finance and Banking from the South Bank University, London.

Highlights of the workshop

The Regional Centre of Excellence (‘RCE’) thank you for attending the virtual workshop on "Supporting efforts to tackle Corruption and other Financial Crimes during COVID-19" , hosted in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, held on 07 April 2022.

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