Training for Private Lawyers Focuses on Financial Investigations and Money Laundering

A new two-month training course on Financial Investigations and Anti-Money Laundering with the Assosiasaun Advogadu Timor-Leste/Timor-Leste Lawyers Association kicked off on September 17 by USAID/MCC's Anticorruption Program.  The training course was requested by Prosecutor General Ana Pessoa and then-parliamentarian Manuel Tillman to address the need to build the capacity of private attorneys. It follows on from similar training provided by USAID to the corruption-fighting institutions of government.  "It is important that private attorneys also understand this material, firstly to help their clients stay out of trouble with corruption and money laundering and secondly, to provide balance in our legal system,” said Jose Ximenes, chief prosecutor of corruption cases in Timor-Leste.