By Yvonne Atilego
The 36th Technical and Plenary Commission meeting of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) and its and its 24th Ministerial Committee (GMC) has opened in in Accra with a call on Member States to identify innovative and collective preventive measures to counter growing risk of money laundering, Terrorist Financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, Member States must put in every effort to identify sources of funds for terrorists’ groups, freeze them and use every legal means to ensure they never get access to the funds again. The GIABA Plenary is an assembly of experts, including representatives of Member States, development partners and observers in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing , who meet twice yearly to share their experiences with respect to the challenges they face in implementing effective Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures.
Speaking at the opening Minister of Finance Ken Ofori Atta noted that Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction continue to pose enormous risks to the global financial systems, peace and socio-economic development.
“With the West African Sub-region not being left off the hook, currently being a major region of concern regarding terrorist financing and its activities, there is the need to strengthen collaboration among member States in order to curb this menace with all its associated predicate offences”, he said
”The phenomenon is underpinned by several factors, including the presence of large, informal, cash-based economies, weak and porous borders, political instability, ethnic and communal violence, corruption, poverty and unemployment”. Mr. Ofori-Atta mentioned.
He called on an all-hands-on deck approach to fight the menace.
The Director General of GIABA, Justice Kimelabalou ABA reiterated the need for member states to redouble efforts at strengthening loopholes to counter anti money laundering and it’s related activities.
He reminded Member States, particularly their Heads of Delegation, National Correspondents, that the appointment of participants in the various programs organized by GIABA must henceforth be accompanied with the CVs of the Candidates through which the relevance of their choices and the benefit that their participation will bring to the said country upon return from the program can be demonstrated. GIABA he noted will therefore reserve the right to refuse in the future applications that do not meet the profiles sought.
Reports for consideration and adoption at the Plenary include the Report of the Co-Chairs of the Evaluation and Compliance Group, and the Report of the Co-Chairs of the Risks, Trends and Monitoring Group, Progress Report of GIABA Effectiveness Improvement Program Action Plan and a brief on Technical Assistance Projects by technical and financial partners.
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