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Nigeria gets new benchmarks to fight money laundering, terrorism
In its quest to attain a high level of compliance, in its fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, the Inter-Governmental Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has set new conditions for Nigeria.
Addressing participants at the Pre-Assessment Training Workshop organised for stakeholders against the combined crimes of money laundering and terrorism financing, in Abuja, the director general of GIABA Col. Adama Coulibaly told Nigeria that it needs to: Identify risks, develop policies and have domestic coordination; Have laws that criminalise money laundering and terrorist financing in accordance with the relevant international conventions.”
Coulibaly also directed Nigeria to, “apply preventive measures for the financial sector and other designated non-financial sectors; Establish powers and responsibilities for the competent authorities (eg investigative, law enforcement and supervisory authorities) and other institutional measures; Enhance the transparency and availability of beneficial ownership information of legal persons and arrangements and Facilitate international cooperation.”
The GIABA boss also cautioned that “it is not enough to enact legislation and set up agencies and institutions- they also need to work effectively to get results on the ground- A ‘real’ reality check indeed. The evaluation will be conducted using the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards of 2012, the FAFT 2013 Methodology for assessing Technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations and Effectiveness of AML/CFT systems, and the revised GIABA Mutual Evaluation Process and Procedures, which is based on the universal mutual evaluation process and procedure.”
Read also: Army kills notorious Boko Haram commander, 18 others
Responding, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Ibrahim Magu represented by the Head of International Affairs Mr. Modibbo Hammatukur said the EFCC is optimistic of joining the FATF because Nigeria has displayed the goodwill required to transit to the FATF.
He assured the GIABA team that the EFCC is willing to avail itself to the agency and is committed to fight money laundering in Nigeria.
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