Consultant to develop training/workshop materials on anti-money laundering in wildlife trafficking and deliver a series of trainings/workshops for Vietnamese prosecutors, judges, and other relevant judicial officers in Viet Nam

TERMS OF REFERENCE

I. Background:  

Wildlife crime is a complex, global problem that needs to be addressed through a variety of strategies. To move, hide and launder illicit money generated from illegal wildlife trade (IWT), transnational organized crimes exploit weaknesses in the financial and non-financial sectors, enabling further wildlife crimes and damaging financial integrity.[1] Financial investigation is an important step in ensuing those involved with IWT are prosecuted fully and will aid in identifying revenues, property sources, money flows and uses of illicit funds. However, it has not been widely applied in investigating illegal wildlife trade flows and jurisdictions rarely investigate the financial trail left by this crime.[2] To date, jurisdictions have not prioritized combatting the financial flows connected to IWT in line with the level of risk posed by this crime. A lack of required knowledge, resources and cooperation mechanisms often prevent law enforcement agencies (LEAs) from properly assessing and combat the threat of money laundering resulting from IWT. The resulting limited focus on the financial side of IWT has largely prevented jurisdiction from being able to identify and sanction IWT networks.

In Viet Nam, despite wildlife crime being considered a predicate offence for money laundering crime (Supreme Court’s Judge Council’s Resolution 03/2019), the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)-Mutual-Evaluation-Report-Viet Nam-2022 identified that “LEAs made minimal use of financial intelligence when tracing proceeds of crime, investigating money laundering and associated predicate offences like wildlife crimes”. Challenges with the availability and quality of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and weaknesses with financial intelligence unit (FIU) analytical systems and capabilities limit the volume and quality of FIU’s analytical products. There is minimal exchange of financial intelligence between the banking sector and competent authorities other than police''. [3]

WCS’s training assessment and evaluations in Viet Nam have also revealed that police lack an understanding of money laundering, financial information in relation to wildlife trafficking and have insufficient intelligence products provided by FIU, while prosecutors and judges do not have sufficient information to prepare for development of anti-money laundering crime cases. These constraints, together with weak inter-agency coordination, have led to hesitation in undertaking financial investigations or pursuing anti-money laundering cases, especially at the district levels, where most (wildlife) investigations take place.

WCS Viet Nam will collaborate with national partners to co-host training and workshop programs for in-service prosecutors, judges and other relevant judicial officers in localities highly affected by wildlife crime to enhance their capacity in handling money laundering and other financial crimes related to wildlife trafficking by building their interest and understanding in investigating, prosecuting, and convicting wildlife crime using financial investigation and anti-money laundering tools. Therefore, we are seeking international consultant services to support us to conduct these training and workshop programs.

II. Objectives:

• Provide technical support and expertise to develop and deliver appropriate training and workshop contents related to the use of anti-money laundering tools to prosecute and convict wildlife crime.

III. Description of work:

The selected international consultants will work closely with WCS Viet Nam’s Program Manager and other relevant WCS staff members to execute the following activities, deliverables, and timelines:

Total allotted time (total working days): To be determined according to the of consultant and agreed by WCS.

IV. Requirements (selection criteria):

• Experience of instructional management and development of training programs.
• Demonstrated profiles in training law enforcement and judicial officials, preferably those with experience in Asia.
• Excellent coordination, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Experience working at the interface of NGO and Government on law enforcement.
• Knowledge of wildlife trafficking, anti-money laundering and financial investigation to support prosecution and conviction of wildlife crime is an advantage.
• Previous experience with WCS is an advantage.

V. Application procedure:

Interested applicants/firms should submit:

1. a statement of capacity (no longer than 2 pages) that demonstrates their capacity to undertake this term of reference including experience providing similar services, appropriate technical expertise and capability;
2. Brief proposal (no longer than 3 pages) of their proposed approach to this assignment, including a financial proposal;
3. two references from previous clients for related services.

Applications should be submitted via email to [email protected]  before 17:00 of February 5, 2023

Note: Only shortlisted candidate(s) will be contacted.