25. April 2018

First peer-to-peer workshop in financial investigations and asset recovery in Tanzania

Workshop participants write on a sheet of paper

In 2017, the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) conducted a Train-the-Trainer project with the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) of Tanzania. At the conclusion of the programme, which was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, four PCCB investigators and prosecutors were certified as trainers in Financial Investigations and Asset Recovery”, using ICAR’s unique training methodology.

From 9 to 13 April 2018, under the observation of one ICAR expert, the local trainers independently conducted their first local training workshop for their peers in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha, with a view to enhancing the local capacity to investigate and prosecute cases of grand corruption and recover stolen assets, locally and internationally.

The participants who came from the regional office of Arusha and neighbouring districts were very appreciative of their inclusion in the workshop as they are seldom exposed to such training opportunities due to their remote locations. They took advantage of the expertise of their colleagues on issues of money laundering, mutual legal assistance, learned useful financial investigative techniques and were enthusiastically engaged in solving a complex simulated investigation.

At the conclusion of the workshop, one of the prosecutors could not help exclaiming that this was the best training he had ever attended. Most of the participants found the training “essential for their daily work". They complimented the local trainers for “their ability to explain difficult concepts” and “the excellent facilitation of the workshop".