Group, stakeholders meet to brace-up against money laundering
Mohammed Kaka Misau
Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has hinted its readiness to hold a meeting with stakeholders of member states on Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) across West Africa.
This is contained in a statement made available to Journalists by Mr. Timothy Melaye, Head of GIABA in Nigeria on Thursday in Bauchi.
He said GIABA is organizing a one-day Public-Private Sectors Consultative Forum at the Palm Beach Hotel, Saly, Senegal November 26, 2022.
Malaye said the programme aims at strengthening public-private partnerships in implementing AML/CFT measures in the region.
“Specifically, the objectives of the programme include providing a platform for; (a) sharing experiences on public-private partnerships in implementing AML/CFT measures from other regions;
“Discussing benefits that the partnership can bring to the next level of effectiveness.
“The challenges of public-private sector cooperation and proffer solutions to facilitate the shared responsibility of effectively implementing AML/CFT measures in the region.
According to him, the theme of the forum tagged “Cooperation and Collaboration in the implementation of AML/CFT measures in GIABA member States.
“Aimed at galvanizing support for the development of PPP across member States to tackle economic crime more effectively.
He explained that the programme is targeted at Directors of Operations of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) with primary responsibility for investigating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF),
“Directors in charge of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervision/compliance from regulatory authorities,
“Heads of Financial Intelligence Unit, Executives of the Compliance Officers Forum of GIABA member States and select critical operators in the private sector.
“Combating money laundering and terrorist financing requires a coordinated approach from all critical stakeholders, especially supervisors, law enforcement agencies, FIUs, and private sector operators in the AML/CFT ecosystem,” Melaye said
He stressed that the potential values or benefits of public-private cooperation in AML/CFT are enormous – this is a crucial first step in delivering operational benefits and efficiency gains.
“It also provides a framework to build relationships and dialogue between stakeholders to help coordinate and catalyze coherent reform of the broader financial crime risk management system.
“Despite the significant progress made in developing public-private cooperation or partnerships in some regions,
“Hence, the need to organize this Forum to discuss the challenges and realities on the ground and how to promote the establishment of public-private partnerships (PPP) across our member States. Melaye said.
He pointed out that a strong relationships, collaboration and dialogue between stakeholders to help coordinate the implementation of AML/CFT measures in the GIABA member State will emerge at the of the meeting.
