West African Judges To Train On Terrorist Financing

Dr. Abdulla Shehu, GIABA Director-General

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is set to organize a five-day regional capacity building seminar for West African judges in Accra from July 22 to 26.

Selected judges from the five West African speaking countries including The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone during the seminar will be schooled on corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

It is intended to bring together judges who are involved in the adjudication of corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing cases in order to foster experience sharing with counterparts in West Africa, with a view to promoting better understanding of the international legislative framework related to these phenomena.

As with past seminars, this seminar will be delivered by technical experts through presentations, case reviews, panel discussions and presentation of country experiences.

The seminar is also targeted at superior court judges who handle or are likely to handle economic and financial crime cases particularly, terrorist financing matters.

About 280 judges, responsible for the adjudication of cases involving money laundering and terrorist financing in their respective countries have benefited from the programs so far.

It is expected that at the end of the seminar, the judges’ capacity to effectively handle economic and financial crime cases, particularly matters relating to terrorist financing, will improve.

Seminars organized by GIABA in the past focused broadly on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

“However, in view of the growing incidence of terrorism and its financing in the region, it has become important to place more emphasis on the terrorist financing component and address the knowledge gaps in this area,” a news release issued by the GIABA Secretariat said.

The seminar, according to the release, will examine the role of judges in implementing targeted financial sanctions pursuant to the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

It will also examine the role of judges in responding to international freezing requests and consider ways to ensure effective and speedy adjudication of economic and financial crime cases.

“Discussions will draw on experiences and identify some best practice models within the judicial systems,” it noted.

Within the framework of its mandate to support member States in the implementation of AML/CFT measures of acceptable international standards, GIABA has since 2008 been organizing Regional Capacity Building Seminars on Economic and Financial Crime for judges.

These seminars were organized primarily to enhance the capacity of the judges to deal with substantive legal issues relating to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Source: Globalnewsreel.com