30th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Corruption, Money Laundering, and Governance

Hon. Carlos González Yepes outlined INTERPOL’s expanding role in combating financial crime, corruption, and money laundering, emphasizing that illicit financial flows underpin nearly all organized crime. Speaking for the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), he noted that the center was established in 2022 to address the rapid growth of scams, cryptocurrency-enabled crime, and systemic corruption.

He described INTERPOL’s global structure—196 member states linked through National Central Bureaus—and explained IFCACC’s three core pillars: online fraud and scams, asset recovery and money laundering, and anti-corruption. González stressed that many countries lack the technical capacity to investigate complex financial and crypto-related crimes, making INTERPOL’s training, intelligence, and analytical support essential.

González highlighted key tools supporting financial investigations, including cooperation with Financial Intelligence Units, the Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (GRIP) mechanism—which helped freeze approximately USD 190 million in illicit funds in 2023—the FIN-INT database, and the pilot Silver Notice for tracing criminal assets worldwide. He also referenced major INTERPOL-led operations that resulted in thousands of arrests and significant asset recoveries.

He concluded by underscoring that INTERPOL’s capabilities exist to support member states and that effective disruption of transnational financial crime depends on sustained international cooperation and information sharing.