MELAKA: The 19th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime and related meetings have agreed to present three ASEAN Leaders’ Declarations at the 47th ASEAN Summit in October.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that Malaysia led the declaration focusing on combating money laundering to strengthen regional financial integrity.
Vietnam proposed the second declaration seeking enhanced cooperation in locating and arresting criminal fugitives within ASEAN countries.
“So, if possible, we want to enhance cooperation to locate, to arrest, to deport and so on,” he told a press conference.
Indonesia initiated the third declaration leveraging sports as a tool to build societal resilience against extremism.
The AMMTC also agreed to remove maritime piracy and international economic crime from its priority list for the next session.
The focus will shift to cybercrime, particularly online scams causing significant annual losses.
“Piracy still exists. For example, in eastern Sabah, kidnap-for-ransom was once quite common, but since January 2020, no such incidents have been detected.”
“So, ASEAN countries believe that, in terms of priorities, there are valid grounds to place piracy further down the list and give greater focus to online scams,” he said. – Bernama
