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| BRAZIL: ILLICIT FINANCE CONFERENCE USES THE "T" WORD, SUCCESSFULLY | |
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2009 October 30, 20:18 (Friday)
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09BRASILIA1282_a
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1. (SBU) Summary: An S/CT funded regional conference
entitled "Illicit Financial Crimes" held in Rio de Janeiro
during October 4-9, 2009, successfully brought together
representatives from Brazil,s federal and state law
enforcement community and countries from throughout Latin
America. The week-long conference was praised in written
evaluations by the participants, with many asking for more
training, including specific training on combating terrorism.
This direct request differs from previous Brazilian requests
which have historically avoided any training that referenced
terrorism, instead preferring more generic terms such as
"transnational crimes." In addition, participants universally
praised the fact that the training was multijurisdictional,
practical, and included actual demonstrations (such as how to
prepare a witness to testify, and the direct examination of
witnesses). Future training should build on areas like
illicit finance task forces, which may prove the best way to
combat terrorism in Brazil. End Summary.
PROJETO PONTES: BUILDING BRIDGES TO BRAZILIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT
2. (U) Post recently concluded a successful conference on
Illicit Finance Oct 4-9 (reftel), held in the regional
capital of Rio de Janeiro and funded by State,s Coordinator
for Counter Terrorism (S/CT). This is the first regional
conference conducted under post,s Projeto PONTES
(Translation: Bridges Project) umbrella, a new training
concept post introduced in February 2009 to consolidate
bi-lateral law enforcement training. Training conducted
under Projeto PONTES is unique in several ways: presentations
focus on both Brazilian and U.S. best practices; the
participants include, in the same venue, judges, prosecutors,
and law enforcement; the topics are agreed upon by both
Brazilian and U.S. counterparts; and the presentations are
geared towards practical skills, not theory.
3. (U) Post,s Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) and Legal
Attach (LEGAT) closely followed the Projeto PONTES framework
when developing the conference agenda and the list of
participants. Federal judges and prosecutors from each of
Brazil,s 26 states and a federal district took part, and
over 50 federal police agents (from throughout Brazil)
participated. State-level participation was also solicited,
and 30 state prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement
attended. In addition to the large Brazilian delegation,
post strived to meet S/CT,s regional focus by inviting
representatives from Mexico, Costa Rico, Panama, Argentina,
Uruguay, and Paraguay.
TERRORISM BROUGHT TO THE FOREFRONT
4. (SBU) Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in S/CT,
Shari Villarosa, opened the conference with a keynote address
on Illicit Finance and Terrorism. In most of post,s
planning with its Brazilian counterparts, the traditional
mantra has been to avoid using the word "Terrorism" and
instead use the less controversial term "Transnational Crime"
as a euphemism for all activity that involves organized
violence and threats. However, in her opening remarks,
Deputy Coordinator Villarosa spoke directly about terrorism
and the illicit financing of terrorism, emphasizing that
illicit finance is a global problem and needs to be addressed
in a global manner.
5. (SBU) Rather than challenging these assertions as often
happens when dealing with Brazil,s Foreign Ministry or
members of the Executive Branch, the judicial sector
representatives at the conference found the topic to be
extremely interesting and important. In post-conference
evaluations, the most frequently requested follow-on training
was related to counterterrorism, clearly demonstrating that
the federal judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement
professionals were less concerned with the political
minefield around the term and genuinely interested in
learning how to better engage the judicial process in the
fight against terrorism.
6. (U) Following the keynote address, the conference
preceded with a presentation by Brazilian Judicial Minister
BRASILIA 00001282 002 OF 003
Gilson Dipp, who provided an overview of the legislative and
political history of Brazil,s money laundering and illicit
activity legislation. Brazilian Federal Money Laundering
Judge Sergio Moro then discussed the 15 most common issues he
sees in money laundering cases in the Brazilian Courts. U.S.
presenters discussed various aspects regarding the
investigation and prosecution of illicit finance and money
laundering cases, including formal and informal international
cooperation, asset forfeiture, methods of proof, pyramid
schemes, plea bargaining, use of direct examination as a
tool, and suggestions on how to deal with Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGO,s) suspected of being used for illicit
financing. In addition, a mock witness preparation and direct
examination was presented. At the end of each day, an hour
was set aside for all the presenters to answer any additional
questions and allow the participants to raise additional
topics. This part of the conference was always lively, and
resulted in discussions of myriad topics as well as
suggestions from the Brazilians on how to work better with
the U.S.
RESULTS: PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES USEFUL
7. (U) The participants praised the hands on training, and
requested additional training on the collection of evidence,
interrogation and interviewing, court room skills, and the
task force model. The participants also lauded the quality
of the presentations and singled out the mock direct
examination of a witness as a high point in the conference.
They emphasized the importance of discussing practical
investigative and trial techniques, and the demonstration of
concrete examples of cooperation between law enforcement and
prosecutors. Finally, many commented that they wanted to
learn more about the proactive task force model, develop
better cooperation between prosecutors and law enforcement,
and gain direct experience in working on long term complex
financial cases.
8. (U) Brazilian participants sought out the RLA and the
LEGAT throughout the conference to discuss how to improve
Brazil,s legal system, especially in the area of complex
financial investigations and prosecutions. The Brazilians
explained that Brazil,s democracy is barely 20 years old;
therefore, Brazilian federal judges, prosecutors, and law
enforcement are new to the democratic process and have not
been trained in the basics of long term investigations,
proactive task forces, and the successful use of courtroom
advocacy. In addition, they find themselves unable to
effectively use their new criminal code, as several recent
changes have completely altered the manner in which evidence
is presented in court. For example, the RLA successfully
advocated for recent changes to the Brazilian criminal
procedure code, which requires direct examination of
witnesses by the prosecution and the defense, rather than by
the judge, and uses live testimony instead of written
affidavits. Many Brazilians, however, confessed that they do
not know how to use these new tools but are eager to learn.
FUTURE TRAINING: ILLICIT FINANCE TASK FORCE
9. (U) The conference clearly demonstrated that the Brazilian
judicial sector is very interested in engaging more
proactively in the fight against terrorism, but needs the
tools and training to effectively engage. Currently, the
most effective approach to incarcerating a terrorist suspect
is to try him on a predicate crime, such as drug trafficking
or money laundering. Indeed, many of the Brazilian
conference participants practice exclusively in Brazil,s
Federal Money Laundering Courts established in 1998 in
conjunction with a money laundering law. Specialized
prosecutors and investigators bring their money laundering
cases to these courts, which have been more effective than
most and have handled some of Brazil,s most significant
cases involving corruption and high level individuals.
10. (U) Consequently, there is a continual need to provide
hands-on training to Brazilian federal and state judges,
prosecutors, and law enforcement regarding the illicit
financing of criminal conduct. There is a nexus between
illicit money flows and terrorist financing, and the
specialized money laundering courts have proven to be an
BRASILIA 00001282 003 OF 003
effective method of prosecuting criminals. Ideally, the
training should be longer-term and coincide with the
formation of training task forces. Two large urban centers
with proven judicial support for illicit financing cases, in
particular Sao Paulo, Campo Grande, or Curitiba, should be
selected as the location for this type of training. Then
task forces can be formed, and an actual investigation used
as the basis for training that would sequentially progress
from investigation through the courtroom presentation and
conclusion of the case. This would give the Brazilians
actual experience in working on a long term proactive illicit
financing task force, and allow access to U.S. experts for
on-going guidance and support. Post can provide more
detailed steps and a cost analysis septel.
11. (SBU) Comment. Overall, the conference was a success,
not only for convoking a significant number of Brazilian and
regional law enforcement professionals to share best
practices on investigating and prosecuting illicit crimes,
but also to recognize that the term terrorism is not taboo to
the professionals who need to prepare for the worst. Post,s
Projeto PONTES will continue to bring together U.S. and
Brazilian law enforcement in different venues, to build on
our relationships and exchange best practices. For
counterterrorism efforts, we hope to use the opening this
conference has provided to target illicit finance task force
training in a major urban center. End Comment.
KUBISKE
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