Increasing
number of civil society organisations (CSOs) from all over West Africa are
being armed with the tools and knowledge to effectively fight against money
laundering and terrorism financing.
The
latest batch of at least 50 CSOs from the sub-region has benefited from a
three-day sensitisation workshop on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing
of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Requirements in ECOWAS Member States.
The
forum was organised by the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money
Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) for CSOs that are actively involved in good
governance, corruption, and other related issues. About 50 of such organisations are trained by
GIABA every year.
The
5th edition of the annual forum, held on 24 and 26 July 2017, was hosted by The
Gambia at a hotel in Kololi.
Colonel
Adama Coulibaly, director general of GIABA, said CSOs, because of their
influence in the economic, political and social spheres, are a fundamental
stakeholder in the AML/CFT process.
It
is because of such influence, in addition to their work in the areas of peace,
security and justice, GIABA has been making efforts to get the civil society
pay specific attention to AML/CFT.
Col
Coulibaly said as non-state actors, CSOs must work closely with all
stakeholders to beam the searchlight to other areas such as conscious efforts
to fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.
He
said the three-day workshop was also “a melting pot” for consolidating the
partnership between the CSOs and GIABA, as well as between the CSOs and the
political authorities in the member states of the region.
Director
of Gambia Finance Intelligence Unit, Yaya Camara, said the workshop was
designed to provide adequate knowledge on the nexus between AML/CFT and CSOs.
In
particular, the participants would learn about the international standards on
AML/CFT, and the Ecowas AML/CFT framework, Mr Camara said.
Ansumana
Touray, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said because
CSOs are found almost everywhere and involved in everything, the role of the
civil society organisations in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing
cannot be overemphasized.
CSOs
increasingly employ extensive networks to pursue their activities and to try to
influence policies on a broad range of issues.
Their influence expands to citizens, legislators and governments.
“As
such, for the issue of money laundering, terrorism and terrorism financing to
be better tackled, there is the need for proper awareness amongst CSOs,” Mr
Touray said.
He
reiterated that there is a need for continuous improvement on the capacities of
CSOs to better position them in championing the fight against money laundering,
terrorism and terrorist financing.
“As
our aim is to ensure general awareness on AML/CFT, training the CSOs could go a
long way in ensuring that the knowledge and awareness get to the cross section
of our societies,” Touray emphasised.
Solicitor
general of The Gambia, Cherno Marenah, said the fight against money laundering
and terrorism financing is “a herculean task” requiring concerted, coordinated,
corporative and collaborative efforts by all stakeholders with distinct but
complementary role.
“The
role of CSOs in this fight cannot be overemphasised,” he said. “This is because they are a critical
component of a country’s governance system who are found almost everywhere and
are involved in nearly everything.”
It
is expected that the workshop would enable CSOs undertake advocacies and
influence the effective implementation of AML/CFT at national and regional
levels, and evolve an effective strategy for the establishment of a robust West
African Civil Society network committed to promoting the implementation of
effective AML/CFT regime in the sub-region.
GIABA
was established to protect the member states’ economies against abuse and the
laundering of proceeds of crime.
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