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‘People have been hiding wealth ever since the notion of value dawned in the mind of man. As society and the instruments of society have become more sophisticated, so have the process of hiding wealth. While a hole in the ground might have well served our ancestors, today to achieve the same degree of “invisibility” a panoply of legal and business devices will often be employed to achieve the same result.’ For those involved in crime which is premeditated, the accumulation and management of wealth is the driving motive.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a newly initiated strategy for international cooperation in criminal justice; specifically, the facilitation of a “Korean Desk” between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, as a case of successful collaboration.

International efforts to formulate and implement the Korean Desk are reviewed, by collecting legal and administrative literature on its implementation.

The Korean Desk, as a newly implemented strategy to handle the increasing incidence of crime by and against Koreans in the Philippines, showed that direct communication and collaboration between police agencies significantly increased effectiveness. Creating the Korean Desk greatly assisted the resolution of criminal matters including extradition, cyber-crime, murder, robbery and others that involved Korean suspects and offenders in Korea and Philippines. The paper describes how the implementation of the Korean Desk evolved, the different roles of the Korean Desk and the police consul, and the substantial, positive outcomes of the project.

Law-enforcement agencies are constantly formulating new approaches to enhance international anti-crime efforts. The successful collaboration described in this paper provides new insights and ideas for how, through close cooperation, agencies can benefit from, and enhance, those efforts. The paper shows how direct communication between the Korean Desk and local police in the Philippines can facilitate investigations, making them efficient and timely. Evaluation of the Korean Desk suggests that it has greatly contributed to international law enforcement.

The overall steps for formulating the Korean Desk strategy and implementing it are examined.

It is clear that illicit drug trafficking affects the security of societies and states in a number of ways — Afghanistan is a prime example. But while the majority of international attention is given to the link between more traditional security threats, such as the relationship between drugs and terrorism, less attention has been focused towards what we might consider ‘new’ security threats related to the international drugs trade. Such threats include the spread of addiction, HIV/AIDs, corruption, trans‐national organised crime and the development of illegal black market economies. For Central Asia the impact of such threats is likely to pose one of the most significant challenges yet to be faced by these post communist states.

To outline the role of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), which has the remit to spearhead the implementation of internationally recognized anti‐money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) benchmarks in the Caribbean Basin region.

The first part of the paper sets out the mandate and structure of the CFATF, and describes the range of activities in which it has been engaged, together with some triumphs and challenges experienced over its history. The second part focuses on a critical component of the CFATF's remit, namely, the conduct of the mutual evaluation (MVE) programme, a peer review process by which member states within the CFATF family are assessed for compliance with AML/CFT requirements. The third part constitutes the conclusion and offers some observations on the way forward for the CFATF in its ongoing campaign against financial crime.

The Caribbean Basin region is ad idem with its international partners in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Member governments of the CFATF have embraced this commitment because it is in the region's best interests to protect first and foremost the regional financial system from criminal activity and by extension the global financial system. In so doing we are able to position ourselves as well regulated, clean jurisdictions which are firmly committed to adherence to international best practices. The ongoing stance of the CFATF is one of constant vigilance with regard to international developments, their potential impact on members and the Caribbean Basin region and the way in which the region's interests could be best protected.

The task of the CFATF is to ensure that throughout the membership all the domestic stakeholders be it the National Anti Money Laundering Committee, the attorney general's department, the central bank, police, customs, immigration, defence departments, the financial intelligence units (FIUs), the judiciary and the magistracy all must take on the responsibility for ensuring that in the AML/CFT arena a culture of compliance is engendered throughout the national consciousness. The MEV reports on all CFATF members as the outcome of the monitoring for compliance process are now being published on the CFATF web site and will be of value to our international partners and in particular to the global investment community. The Caribbean Basin region through concerted action must strive for a positive and responsible international image and reputation and the publication of this paper is a step in that direction.

Crimes are committed for personal reasons or for profit. In any crime for a profit scenario the state has an interest in removing the profit from the criminal. Drug offences, other than simple possession, are the paradigm. People use drugs for a variety of reasons but, at least in the illicit drug trade, individuals sell drugs in order to make money. Traditionally, this was a cash‐based enterprise and, frequently, a misplaced investigative opportunity. A state can attack the criminal profit in order to attack the enterprise. When an illicit criminal activity is undertaken for cash prosecutors and investigators must look at this as an opportunity.

Crime as a force in globalisation has largely escaped analysis. Even crime as a natural product of modernisation and social development is concealed or ignored in both the literature of development studies and criminology. In order to understand globalisation fully, and its paradoxical progress, crime provides an interesting and dynamic insight as a force within world cultural transition.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how terrorist funds are raised through criminal activities and NATO's role in the international fight against terrorism.

The paper outlines the more general context of NATO's overall role in the international fight against terrorism, the link between terrorist financing and organised crime and issues involved in confronting terrorism through the rule of law and democracy.

Deficiencies in democratic development, a weak state, a lack of civil society and the absence of sound economic institutions can be fertile bases for terrorist and criminal organisations. Even if terrorists can flourish in developed societies (and organised crime as well) it is a fact that the rule of law is a major obstacle to the development of terrorist activities.

The paper offers the opinion that sound democratic institutions remain the best answer to terror.