JERICHO, March 14, 2012 (WAFA) - Heads of the Palestinian Economic Crimes Units within prosecution and police attended a study trip to Helsinki and Turku in Finland to enhance police-prosecution cooperation in economic crimes, Wednesday said a EUPOL COPPS press release.

The head of the Economic Crimes Unit within the Attorney General Office, Salem Jarrar, and the head of the Economic Crimes Unit within Palestinian Civil Police, Ali Abu Helal, visited the National Bureau of Investigation, Economic Crime Unit in police, district court, the attorney general office and the prosecution office in Finland.

The aim of the one-week long study trip, which was organized and conducted by EUPOL COPPS’ Prosecution team, is to achieve a high level of synergy between investigators and prosecutors, said the press release.

The Palestinian delegation received presentations from Finnish judges, prosecutors and police officers on cooperation during economic crime investigation and on case preparation. A special emphasis was placed on the common needs for police officers and prosecutors to recognize economic crimes and the patterns related to these complex crimes.

EUPOL COPPS plans further joint training for Palestinian prosecutors and Police officers soon in the West Bank in the fields of gathering evidence, tracing asset and confiscating and asset recovery for police officers and prosecutors specialized in economic crimes.

Jarrar and Abu Helal acknowledged that in a functioning system cooperation between respective authorities reduces work load and gives prosecutors more time to prepare the cases for courts. They said the information received will be utilized in Palestine and the practices used by Finnish authorities seemed to be modern and effective and they were impressed about the high quality of investigation.

R.Q./M.S.