GIABA calls for re-examining of laws against money laundering, financing terrorism in W/Africa

By Lamin Jahateh

There is a need to re-examine the anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in West African countries to ensure they do not induce superficial compliance by countries, said the director general of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Dr Abdullahi Shehu.

Dr Shehu observed that the current AML/CFT framework may force money launderers and extremist groups to make frequent tactical changes and thus produces more grievances or fertile grounds for the recruitment of new set of criminals. 

Most parts of the AML/CFT framework of countries in the sub-region are products of imperfect and incomplete information, hence the need to establish and address the root causes of terrorism to ensure the successes recorded by the AML/CFT framework are enduring, Dr Shehu said while presenting a paper on the challenges of implementing  counter-financing of terrorism regimes in West Africa at the training workshop on AML/CFT for North and West African states organised by the Swiss Confederation and the Federal Republic of Nigeria in collaboration with Giaba held in Abuja, Nigeria, from December 11 to 13, 2012.  

“The benefits of implementing effective AML/CFT regimes are enormous,” the Giaba DG said. “Giaba will continue to support its members to implement effective AML/CFT measures that facilitate optimal deployment of resources and proper sequencing of intervention activities.”

For him, the adoption of international AML/CFT standards is not the magic wand towards eradicating money laundering and financing terrorism, but they are milestones towards building enabling framework that would provide the roadmap for achieving the ultimate goal of a crime-free society.

He said Giaba, an arm of ECOWAS established to fight money laundering and terrorist financing in West Africa, is mandated to develop strategies and mechanisms for the prevention and control of the twin crimes in the sub-region.

THE IMPACT OF MONEY LAUNDERING AND FINANCIAL CRIME FROM BIGGER PERSPECTIVES

Author: Amaru Bah

Money laundering is the criminal's way of trying to ensure that, in the end, crime pays. It is necessitated by the requirement that criminals -- be they drug traffickers, organised criminals, terrorists, arms traffickers, blackmailers, or credit card swindlers -- disguise the origin of their ill-gotten money so they can avoid detection and the risk of prosecution when they use it.

Money laundering is critical to the effective operation of virtually every form of transnational and organised crime. Anti-money-laundering efforts, which are designed to prevent or limit the ability of criminals to use their ill-gotten gains, are both a critical and effective component of anti-crime programmes.

Money laundering generally involves a series of multiple transactions used to disguise the source of financial assets so that those assets may be used without compromising the criminals who are seeking to use them. These transactions typically fall into three stages: (1) placement -- the process of placing unlawful proceeds into financial institutions through deposits, wire transfers, or other means; (2) layering -- the process of separating the proceeds of criminal activity from their origin through the use of layers of complex financial transactions; and (3) integration -- the process of using an apparently legitimate transaction to disguise illicit proceeds. Through these processes, a criminal tries to transform the monetary proceeds derived from illicit activities into funds with an apparently legal source.

Money laundering has potentially devastating economic, security, and social consequences. It provides the fuel for drug dealers, terrorists, illegal arms dealers, corrupt public officials, and others to operate and expand their criminal enterprises.

Crime has become increasingly international in scope, and the financial aspects of Money Laundering. Crime has become more complex due to rapid advances in technology and the globalization of the financial services industry.

Modern financial systems, in addition to facilitating legitimate commerce, also allow criminals to order the transfer of millions of dollars instantly using personal computers and satellite dishes. Because money laundering relies to some extent on existing financial systems and operations, the criminal's choice of money laundering vehicles is limited only by his or her creativity.