The importance of keeping and respecting law in the areas of money laundering was the focus of deliberations as legal practitioners began a three-days workshop on Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime in Suva.
Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Electoral Reform,Public Enterprise and Anti-Corruption, Industry, Tourism, Trade and Communication,Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in opening the workshop said while it was important to have established laws, even more was the importance of respecting and maintaining it within society.
The Minister urged the legal fraternity to the maintain the integrity of law given that law must be enforced to ensure its effectiveness.
“In many countries in the world today, notwithstanding the fact that they have some very good laws in place, to stop for example money laundering, to stop the proceeds of crime being laundered through the system, to stop, for example, terrorist activities, to stop corruption, yet it still continues to take place. So laws, in itself, do not necessarily mean that all the bad things you want to stop will suddenly stop.”
The workshop which is being organised by the Office Director of Public Prosecution, ends on Friday 21st May, 2010.