Training Program in Madagascar I, April 2008

The ICAR team was in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on 28 and 29 April 2008 to deliver a preparatory training on financial investigations and asset recovery, as part of a larger program scheduled for June 2008. This preparatory training included presentations on the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the general concept of money laundering and asset recovery, an overview of the UNODC Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) writer tool and presentations by Jacques Rayroud, Swiss Federal Prosecutor, and Michel Bonnieu, former investigative judge in France and currently working with UNODC in Bangkok. The presentations favored interesting discussions among the participants on the elements that constitute money laundering offenses and the mechanisms available to them to recover stolen assets. The participants included investigators from the Bureau Indépendant Anti Corruption (BIANCO), the Public Prosecutor's Office, Investigative Judges, the Financial Investigations Unit (SAMEFIN) and l'Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature of Madagascar. The Comité pour la Sauvegarde de l'Intégrité (CSI) organized the envent, and was sponsored by the World Bank.