Shedding light on dark money: how governments can tackle illicit finance
Global events from the coronavirus pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have moved the issue of tackling fraud and money laundering up the agenda for many governments.
Many countries lose out on billions of dollars of revenue through corruption and tax evasion, with governments faced particular problems around support schemes set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At this Global Government Forum webinar, experts from around the world will discuss how governments can act to tackle fraud and illicit finance. Join the webinar to find out how the UK is building capacity and capability to tackle fraud and share lessons from COVID, as well as reflections from Transparency International on the effectiveness of global efforts to impose sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The session also includes exclusive insight on the actions the governments of Canada and the Republic of Ireland are taking to tackle money laundering, and from Deloitte on the need for governments make sure regulations, risk assessments and resources are matched to the threat of illicit finance.
The webinar covered:
- How nations can measure the scale of illicit finance in their country – and how they can develop their plans to tackle it
- How to structure the public sector response to get the most effective action
- How governments can work together globally to tackle the problem of illicit finance
Panel
Laura Eshelby, Deputy Director for Practice, Standards and Capability, Public Sector Fraud Authority, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
The Public Sector Fraud Authority works with departments and public bodies to understand and reduce the impact of fraud. A key component of this agenda involves increasing capability in counter fraud by developing the Counter Fraud Profession. Laura has also worked on a number of other initiatives to introduce policy and change across the public sector, including tackling insider threats.
Most recently Laura has led on the oversight of post event assurance, supporting the aims of understanding and measuring the losses arising during COVID-19. This follows the work to introduce a dedicated intelligence unit and public facing hotline, to better understand the threat for the public sector.
Laura started her career as an Auditor in the Legal Aid Agency, at the Ministry of Justice. She trained as a Financial Investigator, acquiring a vast skill-set in counter fraud and steadily progressing to the role of Head of Fraud, before joining the Cabinet Office in 2014.
Brenda McVeigh, Head of AML/Sanctions, Department of Finance, Ireland
Brenda is the head of the AML/Sanctions Unit in the Department of Finance, Ireland. As such, she has responsibility for the negotiations between EU partners for the new AMLCFT package, which includes proposals for a new AMLCFT rulebook and a new EU AMLCFT authority. Brenda is also head of Ireland’s delegation to the FATF. Brenda has worked across numerous legislative portfolios in the Department of Finance, including in the areas of income tax and financial services. Specifically, she developed Ireland’s framework for identification and management of its dormant assets (bank accounts, insurance and pension policies) and led the Irish delegation, during its presidency, dealing with EU proposals for a Financial Transactions Tax. During this time, Brenda was a director on the board of Ireland’s Housing and Finance Agency. She was also previously CEO of her family company for some years, Chief Operations Officer of Ireland’s Tax Appeals Commission and Secretary to the Board of the Child Abuse Commission.
Daniel Eriksson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Transparency International’s Secretariat, Transparency International
Daniel Eriksson is the CEO of Transparency International’s Secretariat in Berlin. He joined in 2019 as Head of Technology. Prior to his appointment in 2021, Eriksson served as an Interim Managing Director of the Transparency International Secretariat. During his professional life, Eriksson has worked in both the private and not-for-profit sectors for entities including the Swedish government, the United Nations, the European Commission, civil society organizations, and more.
His role as a military peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia inspired him to work in the humanitarian sector. Subsequent work in sustainable development in Africa, Asia and the Middle East redirected his focus towards corruption as an obstacle to human development. He is a passionate anti-corruption advocate and a strong believer of the role of technology in global efforts to end corruption. Eriksson holds a BSc in Information Systems Analysis from Linköping University and a PhD from Coventry University.
Barry MacKillop, Deputy Director, Intelligence, FINTRAC, Canada
Mr. MacKillop is the Deputy Director of Intelligence at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) responsible for Tactical Financial Intelligence, as well as Targeted Strategic Financial Intelligence. Mr. MacKillop also has extensive experience in developing and implementing anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing Compliance programs and policies. Prior to this, Mr. MacKillop worked at Public Safety Canada where he held various senior positions over nine years, including: Director General of Law Enforcement, Organized Crime and Border Strategies; Senior Director of National Strategies (Serious and Organized Crime); and Director of Summit Security, Contract Policing and Firearms Policy.
Mr. MacKillop began his career in the non-profit sector with the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa and has also held positions in other federal government organizations, including both the Privy Council Office and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Mr. MacKillop holds a Master of Arts Degree in Criminology from the University of Ottawa.
Chris Bostock, Director, Financial Crime team, Deloitte
Chris leads the Deloitte Forum for Tackling Illicit Finance, coordinating the Firm’s thought leadership on key financial crime issues including asset recovery, transparency of beneficial ownership and improving the effectiveness of the financial crime framework through innovations including public private partnership and information sharing utilities. He has published numerous papers including with the Institute of International Finance and as rapporteur for the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime. He also works extensively with public sector clients on national AML reform programmes. Chris joined Deloitte after 17 years with the UK National Crime Agency, where he was national Threat Lead for Money Laundering and where he established and led the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce.
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Webinar chair: Siobhan Benita, former UK senior civil servant
Siobhan Benita was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ Whitehall experience. She worked in many of the major delivery departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government. She also had senior roles at the heart of Government in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, including supporting the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell to lead work on Civil Service reform and strategy. Siobhan left the Civil Service to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She subsequently joined her alma mater, Warwick University as Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.
