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The Integrity Commission and the Financial Investigations Division (FID) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at strengthening both organisations' response to public corruption, money laundering, organised crime, fraud and financial crime. Signed by the Integrity Commission's Executive Director Greg Christie and the FID's Chief Technical Director Selvin Hay at the FID's offices, the MOU is aimed at fostering a strategic working relationship in which information-sharing lies at its core."This will bolster the Integrity Commission's and the FID's joint and/or separate criminal investigations; it assists both organisations in carrying out their respective statutory mandates, powers and responsibilities," both entities said in a news release.They said that under the MOU the Integrity Commission and the FID will provide each other with intelligence in the form of analysis, financial profiles or documents/reports related to the investigation of corruption, organised crime, financial crime and related activities.The release reports Hay as saying that the MOU establishes clear objectives, guidelines and formally expresses both entities' "aligned will". It also demonstrates their collective commitment "and will definitely provide opportunities for capacity building".Added Hay: "That is why partnering with the Integrity Commission in this way is important to Jamaica's anti-money laundering and anti-corruption effort. It signals to the country that wherever acts of corruption and money laundering occur, the country's law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies are ready to act."Christie stated that the MOU will strengthen the capacity of the Integrity Commission's Information and Complaints Division to access and utilise information from third-party sources to assist in its interrogation, verification and certification of the statutory declarations of public officials."This will include information on assets that are owned by declarants in foreign jurisdictions, as well as information on their involvement in suspicious transactions or activities," Christie said."This MOU provides another major area of collaboration - tackling organised crime. It is no secret that Jamaica has been long plagued by this malady - a malady which has corruption at its very root. Organised crime in Jamaica is so grave that the World Economic Forum, in its highly respected and widely published annual Global Competitiveness Report, in October 2019, ranked Jamaica at #7, out of 141 countries, on the problem of organised crime," Christie said.He warned that if organised crime is allowed to operate unchecked, it will produce grave and irreparable consequences for any nation state. "It will not only undermine the rule of law, but its tentacles will have the potential to infiltrate and subvert even the highest institutions of our State."To tackle corruption and organised crime in Jamaica will, therefore, necessarily require a coordinated effort among all key stakeholders, particularly anti-corruption agencies such as the Integrity Commission and the FID," Christie said.