Fighting economic crime
crime and terrorism.
It includes tools and techniques that are practised such as forensic accounting, legislation and intergovernment protocols, polygraph and psychological tests.
Akhbar says that HU targets working professionals, including corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, legal practitioners, bankers, accountants, private investigators and members of the police force.
The institute has students from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Maldives, China and Kazakhstan.
“Economic crime is rampant. According to the ACFE, studies and statistics in 2012 showed that in government-linked companies, 5% of revenue is lost due to corruption.
“There may be a need to set up a compliance or integrity unit in corporations to strengthen internal compliance policy or obtain people with the relevant qualification,” he says.
The HELP programme is good in that the majority of its lecturers involved are industry practitioners.
They include bankers, certified fraud examiners, criminologists, forensic accountants and pyschologists, all of whom have extensive experience in economic crime management.
The institute also hires lecturers from MACC and from ACFE who are experts in fighting fraud and corruption.
“These lecturers are updated on current scenarios and have undergone special courses and obtained relevant qualifications,” says Akhbar.
Classes are conducted in the evening and there are 12 modules to complete, including eight core modules and four electives over the course of 22 months.
Seventy per cent of the assessment is based on course work and 30% is based on exams.
Students also need to complete an applied research project on a topic that they have chosen.
Another advantage of the programme is that its contents are developed locally but are applicable globally. The institute is also in the process of developing new elective modules for the programme.
Since 2012, the institute published its monograph series, which are articles written by its graduates as well as professionals who have experienced economic crime.
The monograph series is a useful resource for research and debate.
The institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with MACC.
Under the agreement, HU provides training to MACC officers in ECM while also collaborating with them in research and publication.
“We also conduct short courses and workshops in ECM for the public. These courses can be designed on request to meet the specific needs of clients,” says Akhbar.
For more information, call the Economic Crime Management unit at 03-2711 2000 or e-mail akhbars@help.edu.my