Speeches

Asset Forfeiture/Money Laundering Seminar
Opening Remarks by Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold
January 23, 2006

Thank you Russ, for that generous introduction.  It certainly is a pleasure to join you all this morning to welcome all of you and to open this seminar on Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering.

First, I want to thank all of you for your hard work in supporting the strong and growing cooperation the United States and Singapore enjoy on law enforcement issues.  There is always room for continued expansion in our cooperation, but our deeply shared interest in law enforcement serves to enhance our strong bilateral security partnership.

Next, I’d like to extend a special welcome to Bill Woessner, Senior Instructor in the Office of Training at the Drug Enforcement Administration Academy in Quantico, Virginia.  Over the rest of this week, Special Agent Woessner and his team will provide specialized training related to asset forfeiture, money laundering, and the financial investigative techniques necessary in combating illegal proceeds from narcotics trafficking.

I’m pleased that you’ll also have a chance to work closely during this conference with my team from with the U.S. Embassy’s Drug Enforcement Administration office, led by our Country Attaché, Russ Holske.  This office is responsible for Indonesia, Brunei and East Timor as well as Singapore.

After your class photo this morning, you will learn more about the history and mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Russ will then brief you on the role of the DEA Country Office.  Although he arrived only a few months ago, Russ has accomplished a tremendous amount in this short time.  Many of his office’s success stories involve the direct support and assistance of Singaporean agencies represented in this room.
 
For example, late last month we saw the first forfeiture of drug-related assets from Singapore to the United States since the November 2000 implementation of the Drug Designation Act.  This ground-breaking Act, the first bilateral law enforcement agreement between the Republic of Singapore and another country, established needed policy for forfeiture of frozen funds.  Now that this precedent has been set, we look forward to continuing cooperation with Singapore on drug-related asset forfeiture.
 
I am confident that you will find the training this week tremendously useful.  The panel discussion that precedes your graduation on Friday will be a wonderful opportunity to deal with any remaining questions  across the spectrum of techniques and processes that you will cover over the course of the seminar.

I hope this seminar will be a productive experience for each of you.  Thank you for attending and thank you for all the support and cooperation you provide to the U.S. Embassy.