Charge Financial Offenders with Severe Counts – Ghana’s Justice Minister

Group photograph of dignitaries at the 19th GIABA plenary

By Patrick Baidoo

(Coordinator, AML - Journalists Network-Ghana)

“Various Financial Intelligence Centres across the West African sub-region must adopt the application of severe monetary counts for financial and economic crime offenders, when they are caught laundering money (ML), in the respective countries,” Ghana’s Attorney-General (A-G), Mrs. Marrietta Appiah Oppong has advised.

This measure among other legislative and punitive actions, according to her, would deter all manner of persons from jumping on the bandwagon to engage in the ML and Financing of Terrorist activities, which lead to serious criminal activities that are injurious to society.

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) is an arm of a State statutory regulator and an enforcer of the financial industry, which works with the security agencies to cut down on the rate of money laundering activities in that particular country.

The centre receives and analyses financial information as well as disseminate information packages to the law enforcement agencies for investigation. It also exchanges information with similar bodies in other countries as regards money laundering activities and similar offences.

speaking at the opening session of the 19th Plenary and Technical Commission Meeting of the Inter-governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), in Accra recently, Mrs. Oppong indicated that the laxity by law enforcement officers, prosecutors and the judiciary in the application of laid down laws on the subject would pave way for people to engage in ML from nefarious economic activities.

The three-day GIABA plenary meeting was a platform for members of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to share experiences and discuss relevant issues requiring a concerted, collective and harmonised approach in the implementation of a robust anti-money laundering and countering of financial terrorism regimes in the region.

“You must ensure that severe monetary counts are meted to all manner of persons caught in money laundering. Offenders should know that money laundering is not a safe haven, and in so doing the fight would be won”, she noted.

Hon. Marrietta Oppong, thus, charged the Chief Justice of Ghana, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood to issue a practice direction on measures to expedite the trial of money laundering and the financing of terrorism offences in the country.

She added it would give credence to efforts being made by GIABA and also strengthen the judiciary to enhance prosecution of money laundering cases in Ghana.

On his part, Chief Executive of the FIC Ghana, Mr. Samuel Essel noted that through intelligence operations, his outfit was able to track down 700 cases of money laundering where 300 had been transferred to the security agencies for deep probing and further investigations as well as prosecutions.

This effort by the FIC, he said, recovered US$2.8 million in the process for the state.

He said the FIC was also working hard to intensify awareness creation on the deleterious effects of money laundering across all institutions that seem to be vulnerable to the activities of these criminals.

“This feat has been chalked because there has been total political commitment from the government of Ghana and we are also liaising with our partners within the banking sector to monitor all kinds of suspicious transactions through our various banks,” he indicated.

Mr. Essel further mentioned that the FIC used 6 months to redeem Ghana's image when the country was blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as one of the countries, which had done little to fight the menace of money laundering.

About GIABA

GIABA was established on 10 December 1999 by a decision of the Authority of Heads of State and government of the ECOWAS. GIABA's mandate was revised in January 2006 to fully incorporate and properly reflect the imperative to fight the financing of terrorism.

GIABA members acknowledge that money laundering and financing of terrorism are issues of critical importance to the world community which require global action and that the economies and financial systems of the countries need to be protected from laundered money and proceeds from terrorist activities. GIABA members recognize that West Africa needs to address these issues and find global solutions to them.

A section of participants during the 19th GIABA Plenary