World-Check’s third annual Compliance Leadership Forum, has once again brought together the world’s leading professionals to identify common compliance concerns and emerging challenges. The attendees came from as far a field as Australia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Jordan, Dubai, Canada, Portugal, Belgium, France, Spain, United States, Austria, Holland, Singapore, Lebanon, The Channel Islands, Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Some 50 attendees enjoyed the round-table event at the stately Stapleford Park located in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The highly respected guest speakers, who each delivered thought-provoking speeches from their diverse backgrounds, added further dimension to the event. The speakers included the Honourable Thomas J. Ridge, former United States Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Lord Davidson, the Advocate General of Scotland; Mr. Richard Berry, of New Scotland Yard’s National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (FTFIU); Mr. Javier Zarzalejos, Head of Constitutional Affairs and Institutions at the FAES Foundation and former Secretary General to the Presidency of Spain (1996-2004); Mr. Rafael Bardaji, Director of Political Studies of the FAES Foundation and former National Security Advisor, Spain; Mr. Kenneth Rijock, Financial Crime Consultant for World-Check and Ridzwan Aminuddin, manager of Country-Check, a new risk analysis tool engineered by World-Check.

The Honourable Thomas J. Ridge

Mr. Ridge is a retired American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1983–1995), Governor of Pennsylvania (1995–2001), Assistant to the President for Homeland Security (2001–2003), and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2003–2005). Following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security within the White House, and named Ridge to head it. The charge to the nation's new director of homeland security was to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen the United States against terrorist threats or attacks. The newly created Department was the most comprehensive reorganization of the Federal government since the National Security Act of 1947. The Department of Homeland Security consolidates 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, unifying once-fragmented Federal functions in a single agency dedicated to protecting America from terrorism. Ridge worked with the employees from combined agencies to strengthen borders, provide for intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection, improve the use of science and technology to counter weapons of mass destruction, and to create a comprehensive response and recovery division.

FORUM PRESENTATION:
Terrorism: "The Threat our Society faces and the role of the Financial Community"

Lord Davidson

Lord Davidson is the Advocate General for Scotland. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1979 and has been a QC since 1993. He was called to the English Bar in 1990 and was Solicitor General for Scotland from 2000-2001. On 21 March 2006 Neil was appointed Advocate General for Scotland - the chief legal adviser to the UK government on Scottish law. During his time in practice he covered a broad range of commercial and public law work. He was a founder/director of the City Disputes Panel from 1994-2000 and a founder of the Advocates' Business Law Group. In public law work he argued many of the human rights cases from Scotland before the Privy Council and has considerable experience in judicial review and local government work.

FORUM PRESENTATION:
“Defending society in a Human Rights Culture”

Mr. Richard Berry

Dick Berry is a serving Metropolitan Police Officer working as a Financial Investigator at the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU), New Scotland Yard. His current role involves the development of financial investigation as a tool for supporting counter terrorist operations within the UK and abroad, as such he has a detailed knowledge of ongoing UK counter terrorist activity. Working in liaison with the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in respect of terrorist finance and Suspicious Activity Reporting he advises on policy, procedure and consent issues as they relate to Terrorist Finance. He has recently undertaken a review on the effectiveness of UK Law Enforcement in the use of Suspicious Activity Reporting in terrorist investigations and is currently engaged in the development of public / private partnerships in respect of Law Enforcement, the Reporting Sector and CT strategy.

FORUM PRESENTATION:
“Understanding what Islamism is; challenging the Western concept of geographical boundaries and a detailed description of current Al-Qaeda operations in the UK”

Mr. Javier Zarzalejos

Mr Zarzalejos is the Director of the Constitution and Institution Unit of the Spanish think tank Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES). He is also the Director of the Publication entitled “Cuadernos de Pensamiento Politico”. He studied law and graduated from the Deusto University, Bilbao. He has held numerous positions in the High Office of the Spanish Public Administration most notably as the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Government from 1996 – 2004.

FORUM PRESENTATION:
"ETA: where we are and where we are going"

Mr. Rafael Bardaji

Mr. Bardaji is the Director of Political Studies of the Spanish think tank Foundation Analysis and Social Studies (FAES). He graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid (1981) with degrees in Political Science and Sociology. He was Professor of International Politics at ICADE between 1985 and 1995. He was the founder of the Strategic Studies Group (GEES) in 1986 of which he was director until May 1996 carrying out consultancy tasks for the Atlantic Alliance and the Spanish Military Headquarters. He was the Executive Advisor of the Minister of Defence, Eduardo Serra from 1996 to 2000; and from June 2000 to January 2002, he was the Executive Advisor for the Minister of Defence, Federico Trillo. From 2002 to 2004 he worked as Assistant Director of Real Instituto Elcano. He is a member of the IISS in London and plays an important role at the International Council of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) of Massachusetts and of the International Committee of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique of Paris. He is also a member of the Conseil Economique de la Défense, dependant on the French Ministry of Defence. From May 2004 he is Director of International Policy and Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to former President, José María Aznar at FAES Foundation. He has published many different books and numerous contributions to texts and seminars abroad, as well as articles in specialised magazines and in the press. He has been awarded the Aeronautical Merit Cross (1991) the Naval Merit Cross (2000) and the Militar Merit Cross (2003)

FORUM PRESENTATION
"Islamic terrorism in Spain: a glimpse of the future"

Mr. Kenneth Rijock

Mr. Rijock is a Financial Crime Consultant for World-Check. He is a former banking attorney – turned career money launderer- who now actively consults with law enforcement and the financial community. He has more than 25 years experience in the field of money laundering – as a practicing laundryman, financial institution compliance consultant, and trainer to law enforcement and intelligence services of both the USA and Canada. He has written articles for publications in the AML field in both Europe and North America. Mr Rijock’s articles, which are accessible on the World-Check website, have an extensive and faithful following due to their direct and revealing nature.

FORUM PRESENTATION:
“Emerging Threats of Money Laundering"

The Second Annual Compliance Leadership Forum proved to be a great success, with an array of enforcement, regulatory and compliance leaders coming together from Australia, Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Dubai, Canada, Portugal, Belgium, France, Lebanon, The Channel Islands and the United Kingdom. Attendees spent two days in a candid exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions and went away motivated by the experience.

Lord Robertson, Former Secretary General of NATO, Alain Damais, Executive Secretary of FATF/GAFI and Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research, provided very valuable insight into their fields of expertise. We look forward to the 3rd Annual Compliance Leadership Forum in 2007.

Lord George Robertson