Financial Criminology: An Islamic Perspective

Day One

Despite his busy schedule, the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi MARA, Dato' Prof Ir Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar made time to welcome all guests and participants at the 4th International Conference on Financial Criminology - ICFC 2011 in Putrajaya. Dato' Sahol gave an opening remark, and this was followed by a keynote address by the honorable Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Haji Ismail Haji Omar. The IGP praised the organizing committee for making the ICFC an annual event. The fight against crime (which includes financial crime)is not just the responsibility of the enforcement agencies. Everyone has a role to play to mitigate financial crime in this country. A total of four other papers were presented on the first day of the conference. Prof Dr Syed Noh Syed Ahmad delivered a paper entitled "Journey to the Road of Success: The Fight Against Fraud and Bribery". Basically the paper focuses on the roles and functions of MACC in combatting bribery and corruption in this country. Despite a higher success rate in handling corruption cases, a much bigger issue is in educating the public that corruption is a crime regardless whether one gives or receives one. The second paper was presented by Prof Dr Syed Abd Hamid Al-Junid. Titled "Shariah Compliance Review, Audit and Governance", the paper discussed the role of the Shariah Advisory Council in Islamic Financial Institutions (IFs).
The pool of shariah experts is still relatively low and universities have a special role to play in producing suitable talents in the area of Islamic Finance. After the lunch break, Professor Humayoun Dar, CEO of BMB Islamic (UK) delivered a paper titled "Fraud Risk Management from the Perspective of Islam". Essentially the paper deliberated on the fact that financial crime is premised on greed and lack of integrity. As such, all organisations must develop some kind of fraud risk management strategies. The final paper for the day was jointly presented by Ms Hue Dang, Head of Asia, Association of Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and Mr Jean Ward Senior Vice President, Compliance Service & Security, DBS Bank Singapore. Titled "Anti-Money laundering: Comtemporary Issues and Development", both speakers deliberated on actual money laundering case studies which had involved several Asian companies. All in all, the first day event focused on the three themes: Fraud Risk Management, Islamic Accountability and Anti-Money Laundering. More than three hundred participants attended the function. The event continues tomorrow with another interesting day. Congratulations all...