Transcript USA, Amy Chang Lee
Amy Chang Lee Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training Criminal Division United States Department of Justice
Overview of USDOJ Technical Assistance
• OPDAT was created by USDOJ in 1991 in response to growing threat of international crime • Mission is to assist prosecutors and judicial personnel in other countries develop and sustain effective criminal justice institutions • OPDAT draws on DOJ resources and expertise • Works with foreign partners with a broad range of justice sector reforms and development
Mexico El Salvador Colombia
June 30, 2012
Global Reach of OPDAT Field Offices Romania Russia Bosnia Kosovo Macedonia Albania Morocco Serbia Tunisia Turkey Moldova Ukraine Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Iraq Pakistan Regional RLA (Caribbean) Mali UAE Sierra Leone Kenya Indonesia Timor Leste China Bangladesh Philippines Malaysia Key: Current OPDAT RLA field offices: Additional field offices: 28 3
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OPDAT Scope of Operations
Programs
FY 2012
588 programs involving 92 countries
DOJ officials invested 683 hours of their time to meet with 2,263 foreign visitors Funded by US Department of State.
Staffing
Headquarters Personnel
FY 2012
22 Attorneys
19 Non-attorneys
Overseas Personnel
FY 2012
48 Resident Legal Advisors in 32 countries
45 Foreign Service Nationals in 22 countries
USDOJ OPDAT’s Core Competencies
OPDAT provides an array of technical and skills development assistance in these areas:
Criminal procedure code reform Criminal justice sector infrastructure reform Substantive reform Activities in FY 2012: Counterterrorism – 19 programs Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation – 42 programs Anti-Corruption – 34 programs Organized Crime – 14 programs Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture – 48 programs Computer Crime and Intellectual Property 30 programs Narcotics Trafficking – 7 programs Justice Sector Development – 394 programs Legislative drafting Task force development Streamlining of the judicial process Organization and management of prosecutorial function Case management Capacity-building of foreign prosecutors, investigators, and judges Promotion of rule of law and regard for human rights
Representative OPDAT Activities
Anti-Corruption
Partnership with Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC):
OPDAT and ICITAP have conducted MCC anticorruption program in Albania, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Moldova, Paraguay, Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ukraine.
Albania:
Assisted in creation of Joint Investigative Unit to combat financial crimes and corruption. The creation of this task force has resulted in significant arrests in corruption cases: 6 tax police were convicted and sentenced in April 2008; former high-level officials from the Ministries of Labor and Transportation, a former member of the tendering commission, and the former General Director of Roads were convicted and sentenced on corruption charges.
Georgia
: Provided training for investigators and prosecutors prior to the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2008. Thereafter, the Georgians prosecuted individuals for election crimes.
Indonesia:
Helped in establishment of an elite anti-corruption task force within the Office of the Attorney General, which is responsible for prosecuting high-level, complex corruption cases and recovering assets stolen through corruption.
Liberia
: Assisted in creation of an anti-corruption unit within the Ministry of Justice; helped develop a code of conduct and standards for prosecutors; promoted use of plea bargaining to reduce pre-trial detention; improved capacity of members in Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate and prosecute allegations of public corruption, leading to indictments of several Liberian officials.
Yemen
: In February 2010, OPDAT began providing assistance to Yemen’s Supreme National Anti Corruption Commission as part of a 1 year justice sector program focused on combating public corruption.