White Collar Crime Seminar Announced for Galway

Legal affairs correspondent to discuss white collar crime and the Irish meltdown at Financial Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Seminar.

Galway Company Financetraining.eu will host the West of Ireland’s first “Financial crime and Anti-Money Laundering” seminar at the Clayton Hotel Galway on November 29.

Keynote speaker for the event is Derbhail McDonald, Irish independent legal affairs correspondent and author of the book Bust. Derbhail will speak about the widening scope of financial crime; bribery and corruption; the importance of internal controls; and how the courts have exposed the rotten heart of the Irish economy.

Ms McDonald will be joined by Kevin Prendergast, Corporate Compliance Manager, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement; and Philip Cox, Special Investigations Unit, Department of Social Protection.

Mr Prendergast will look at the changing regulatory landscape with emphasis on the duties of company directors, compliance priorities, reporting obligations and enforcement. Mr Cox will provide an overview of social welfare fraud in Ireland, placing special attention to social welfare fraud controls and what to do if you suspect fraud.

Gert O’Rourke of Financetraining.eu stresses the importance of this seminar for finance professionals: “Challenges are constantly emerging for finance professionals to remain compliant with ever changing legislation.Our seminar can help. We have chosen a broad range of speakers to ensure our event is both interesting and informative” she said.

Ms O’Rourke is a highly experienced financial trainer who has trained global banks on anti-money laundering. Co-founder of Financetraining.eu, Ralph Smith, is a qualified accountant, skilled compliance specialist and member of the association of certified fraud examiners. Gert and Ralph will deliver an overview of Anti-Money Laundering from an Irish perspective.

For more information or to book your space at this event log on to www.amlseminar.com. This half-day seminar is priced at €159 and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credits are available. For more information or to enquire about group discounts please contact 086 0603646.

Notes to Editor
About the Speakers
Dearbhail McDonald is the Legal Editor of the Irish Independent.

A former news correspondent with The Sunday Times, Dearbhail has won a series of awards for her legal affairs coverage and is also a former Young Irish Medical Journalist of the Year.

The journalist and broadcaster has recently published her first book, Bust: How the Courts Exposed the Rotten Heart of the Irish Economy with Penguin Ireland.

Dearbhail is a member of the Law Council of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and holds an LL.B (Law) from Trinity College Dublin as well as a Masters Degree in Journalism from Dublin City University.

A national judge for the European Young Journalist of the Year and the European Commission’s “For Diversity. Against Discrimination” Awards, Dearbhail also co-founded the Roberta Gray Feature Award for aspiring feature writers.

Dearbhail is currently working with Manresa, the Jesuit Spirituality Centre in Dublin, developing an alternative leadership programme for young and emerging leaders.

A classically trained violinist, Dearbhail is a member of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and the Serafina String Quartet.

Philip Cox: Principal Officer Department of Social & Family Affairs

Philip joined the Civil Service after being employed in the financial service sector and has worked exclusively within the Department of Social & Protection. He was employed in the Department’s Inspectorate for 10 years and was for most of this time assigned to the Joint Revenue/ Special Investigation Unit.

He is national manager with responsibility for the Department’s Special Investigation Unit and also Regional Manager for the Department’s Midland region. The function of the Special Investigation Unit is to investigate and report on social welfare fraud and abuse as well as ensuring a national and strategic response to high risk sectors and social welfare schemes where fraud is prevalent.

As a Principal Officer he has been responsible for the general management and service delivery of a number of the Department’s income support schemes. He was Departmental representative and a member of the Senior Officials Group reporting to the cabinet subcommittee on social inclusion. He was project manager on the implementation of the Government Decision to transfer the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive to the Department of Social Protection.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Public Management from the Institute of Public Administration and MBA (Distinction) in Business Management from Coventry University.

He is a founder member of Backstage Theatre. He was until age interrupted - a keen footballer and sports enthusiast.

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For all media enquiries contact:
Eileen Keleghan
Email: eileenkeleghan@gmail.com Tel: 086 0603646