LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

Financial AMERICA ADVISOR

A daily publication Of the dialogue

June 18, 2024

How Can Colombia’s Gov’t Better Fight Money Launderers?

Over the past three and a half years, Colombian authorities have discovered some $20 billion in operations that could be related to money laundering. // Image: Marco Verch via Creative Commons.

Q

A

Marcelo Buendía Vélez, associate attorney at the Bogotá office of Díaz Reus and former prosecutor in Colombia’s anti-money laundering units: “Colombia has invested a significant amount of resources in the prosecution of money laundering cases, and results have so far been very positive. New investigative techniques, proper training for investigators and prosecutors, and cooperation within public and private entities have been the main reasons for Colombia’s results. However, there is still much to do because money launderers are always searching for new ways to accomplish their goals. In the fight against money laundering, Colombian authorities face three main obstacles. First, criminality moves faster than authorities, which take too long investigating and then prosecuting. The lack of swiftness in investigations and legal processes is, undoubtedly, one of the main obstacles. Second, there is still a lack of knowledge on investigative techniques to fight nontraditional money launderers. Cryptocurrency or even art markets used for money laundering are among…”

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ABOUT THE financial services ADVISOR

Covering Latin America’s banking and insurance sectors, remittances trends and data, micro lending issues, new technologies in the industry, anti-money laundering regulations, and much more, the Inter-American Dialogue’s biweekly Financial Services Advisor, a sister publication of the Latin America Advisor, gives readers fresh insight and diverse viewpoints from financial sector leaders. To subscribe or for more information, contact Gene Kuleta, editor of the Advisor, at gkuleta@thedialogue.org.

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Gene Kuleta
Editor
P. 202.463.2920
E. gkuleta@thedialogue.org

Carl David
Goette-Luciak
Reporter

Nili Blanck
Reporter

board of advisors

Ernesto Armenteros
Vice Chairman
of the Board,
Banco de Ahorro y Credito Union

Jimena Blanco
Chief Analyst,
Verisk Maplecroft

Richard Child
CEO,
Mattrix Group

Michael Diaz
Partner,
Diaz, Reus & Targ, LLP

Ernesto Fernández Holmann
Chairman of the Board,
Ayucus

Desiree Green
Vice President,
Int’l Gov’t Affairs,
Prudential Financial

Earl Jarrett
Deputy Chairman & CEO
The Jamaica National Group

Barbara Kotschwar
Professor of Political Economy,
Georgetown University

Thomas Morante
Attorney,
Carlton Fields

Manuel Orozco
Senior Fellow,
Inter-American Dialogue

Adalberto Palma Gómez
Senior Partner,
Aperture SC

Rodolfo Pittaluga
Adjunct Professor,
Florida International University
College of Law

Roberto Teixeira da Costa
Founder & Board Member Emeritus, CEBRI

Mario Trujillo
CEO,
DolEx Dollar Express

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