THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Wednesday underscored its operatives’ role in improving the effectiveness of the country’s financial intelligence and anti-money laundering investigations.
PDEA director general Isagani Nerez lauded the crucial role of the agency’s Deputized Anti-Money Laundering Council Financial Investigators (DAFIs) in the country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list.
“PDEA DAFIs served as force multipliers in the national development of financial intelligence, investigation, prosecution and confiscation in relation to money laundering and its predicate offenses,” Nerez said.
Mandated to investigate monetary instruments, such as bank accounts and insurance policies believed to be used to launder drug money, the DAFIs’ presence has provided impetus to the country’s anti-drug money laundering investigations previously done by a limited number of investigators from the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
