FIU PROVIDES FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

The Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) provided targeted financial intelligence and assistance to law enforcement agencies during the investigation of a major international drug trafficking case that resulted in the successful conviction of a Canadian national in Fiji.

The FIU identified suspicious wire transfers, shell companies, unusual account activities, and provided asset tracing in this case.

The Suva High Court yesterday sentenced Joshua Aziz Rahman to 20 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 years.

Rahman was found guilty by the High Court for being in possession of 39.5 kilograms of cocaine worth FJ$30 million in April 2021.

The Director of the FIU, Razim Buksh, said that this is an excellent outcome of law enforcement co operation and networking.

Mr Buksh also said that drug trafficking, cultivation and related offences continue to be the biggest contributor to money laundering risk in Fiji.

The core role of the FIU as an intelligence agency is to receive, analyse and disseminate financial intelligence to relevant law enforcement agencies.

Mr Buksh said that the FIU uses a data-mining and data-monitoring system to generate meaningful intelligence that is shared with its law enforcement partners, both in Fiji and internationally.

The FIU currently has over 20 million financial transaction records in its database.

This information is extremely useful in profiling suspects, identifying and monitoring flow of funds, tracing syndicates and conducting related financial surveillance.

The FIU is also Fiji’s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regulator and the lead agency on AML/CFT policy formulation, compliance and enforcement.

The FTR Act and Regulations specifies a range of measures that financial institutions, including real estate agents, legal practitioners and accounting firms in Fiji must implement in order to prevent the abuse of Fiji’s financial system from money laundering, terrorist financing and other serious criminal activities.