Earlier today, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division met with Vice-President Hugo Velazquez, Minister of the Anti-Money Laundering Secretariat Carlos Arregui, and Minister of Intelligence Esteban Aquino of Paraguay in Washington, DC.
They discussed coordination on law enforcement matters including extraditions and the need to join forces to combat drug trafficking, illicit financial schemes, investigating and prosecuting complex financial and terrorism financing cases and other transnational crimes.
The past two years have seen a significant increase in bilateral law enforcement cooperation, given the global reach of transnational crime. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cronan expressed his gratitude to Paraguay for the successful extradition of multiple fugitives in the past two years. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cronan also commended Paraguay’s action last month to designate ISIS, al-Qaida, Hamas, and Hizballah as terrorist organizations. The Justice Department has offered to support Paraguay in combatting terrorism and fully and effectively implementing these designations.
They discussed their cooperative criminal investigative efforts between the United States and Paraguay as well as the case-based mentoring and technical assistance that the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT), and its Asuncion-based Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) is providing.
Both sides agreed to continued collaboration between Justice Department entities and counterparts in the region to achieve their law enforcement priorities.
Source: Department of Justice. This site is made available by China PR Agency – Professional Chinese Press Release Distribution service, Great China and Asia PR service provider. 【专业中文新闻稿发布，大中华地区及亚洲网络公关服务商】。