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| The High Table Takes Salute From The Police Band |
Source: Modernghana.com
Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama has pledged strong political commitment to fighting the menace of trans-national organized crimes within the country and the ECOWAS sub-region at large.
According to President Mahama, 'Ghana would continue to remain resolute and fully politically committed to fighting money laundering and its accompanied criminal activities.'
He was addressing the 12th meeting of the Inter-governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering And Terrorist Financing In West Africa (GIABA) Ministerial Committee (GMC) held on Saturday 11th May 2013 at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.
President John Dramani Mahama further commended Ghana's Financial Intelligence Centre for the significant contributions it made to redeem Ghana's image when Ghana was blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in February 2012.
The GIABA Ministerial Committee (GMC) comprises the Ministers responsible for Finance; Justice and Security / Interior of each of its 15 member States. The Committee is the principal decision-making organ of GIABA and provides policy direction for the execution of GIABA mandate.
At its 12th meeting, the GMC which was charged with the responsibility of approving GIABA's progress reports, to consider the following: the Summary of the Director General's Mid-Year Report, the reports of the 18th and 19th Technical Commission/Plenary Meetings, and adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) of Sao Tome & Principe. It also offered a platform where the ministers listened to a presentation on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) in the West African region.
Taking his turn to speak, the Director-General of GIABA, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, commended the Ghana government for the implementation of acceptable international Anti-Money Laundering And Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures.
'I would like to congratulate Ghana for the tremendous efforts made by the government of Ghana in addressing the strategic deficiencies identified in the country's anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorist regime, especially those deficiencies identified by the FATF International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG),' indicated Dr. Abdullahi Shehu.
He said the commitment of the Government of Ghana was evidenced by the effective actions taken by Ghana, including the passage of the relevant laws, issuance of necessary regulations for the financial sector as well as the establishment of a Financial Intelligence Centre FIC.
'The establishment of a Financial Intelligence Centre is a major requirement in the AML/CFT framework. It is a national unit or centre mandated to receive, analyze and disseminate financial intelligence, thus, facilitating good investigation and prosecution of offenders.
I am particularly delighted to note that the FIC of Ghana, though among the first generation in the region, has been well established by law and is fully staffed and sufficiently funded. The progress recorded by the FIC in AML/CFT within this short time of its establishment is quite remarkable and I commend Ghana's Minister of Finance and the Chief Executive Officer of the FIC, Mr. Samuel Thompson Essel, in particular, for his dedication, commitment and professionalism,' Dr. Shehu emphasized.
These, developments, he noted led to Ghana's removal from the FATF Public Statement in February 2013.
Ghana's achievement, no doubt, serves as an example to other jurisdictions both within and outside the sub-region who are still under the FATF/ICRG review process.
General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria's Former Head of State and founding father of ECOWAS, who officially launched the various GIABA reports at the meeting, decried the high rate of money laundering activities across the sub-region.
'The growing level of sophistication of social vices and predicate crimes like high level corruption, internet fraud, human trafficking and drug trafficking is worrisome. Not least because, proceeds from these illicit businesses encourage money laundering and fuel the financing of terrorism.
...There are indeed wider negative implications for society, first, in terms of degrading such vital social values as honesty, integrity, and good character,' General Yakubu Gowon stressed.
In an address, Mr. Vladimir Nechaev, Vice President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) commended GIABA for the work done jointly with the FATF on the project of typologies of the Financing of Terrorism in West Africa.
'Many GIABA countries participated in this project; therefore I am convinced that this report will provide a useful tool for GIABA member states but also for other countries around the world for understanding and adequately addressing terrorist financing threats.
...As you know, the FATF has recently revised the Recommendations on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and is developing other related instruments. I believe that these recent and future developments will provide us with powerful tools to successfully overcome Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and achieve our common objectives,' the FATF Vice President indicated.
He also welcomed and commended the significant and important reforms recently introduced by Ghana, particularly, the criminalization of money laundering and terrorist financing, the establishment of an operational and functioning FIC and the adoption and implementation of adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets.
'As a consequence of this progress, the FATF decided in February 2013 that Ghana will no longer be subject to the FATF monitoring process, known as the ICRG process,' Mr. Vladimir Nechaev revealed.
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