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EFFORTS AGAINST Money Laundering IN WEST AFRICA

Dr. Abdullahi Y. Shehu Director General, GIABA. EFFORTS AGAINST Money Laundering IN WEST AFRICA. Presented to the Commissioners of the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), Accra, Ghana 29 April 2013. Presentation Overview. Regional Context – the facts Mandate of GIABA

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EFFORTS AGAINST Money Laundering IN WEST AFRICA

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  1. Dr. Abdullahi Y. Shehu Director General, GIABA EFFORTS AGAINST Money Laundering IN WEST AFRICA Presented to the Commissioners of the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), Accra, Ghana 29 April 2013

  2. Presentation Overview • Regional Context – the facts • Mandate of GIABA • Serious and organized crime in West Africa • Challenges of fighting organized crime in West Africa • The role of GIABA in Countering Organized Crime in West Africa • GIABA’s achievements • Recommendations • Conclusion

  3. Regional Context – Population (>300 mn)

  4. Regional Context – Relative % of total regional GDP per country (2011)

  5. Regional Context – GDP Growth (2007-2011)for 14 Countries-Nigeria excluded

  6. Regional Context –Nigeria’s GDP Growth

  7. Regional Context – Per Capita (2011)

  8. Regional context - facts • Fifteen (15) countries, over 300 million inhabitants, with Nigeria having more than half of the total population (170 ml) • Majority of the population lives in rural areas, largely isolated from the government, with little or no access to basic services. • Plagued by deep and widespread poverty and underdevelopment, 11 of the 15 countries were ranked by the 2009 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as experiencing ‘low development’. • West Africa’s GDP of approximately $369 billion is less than that of Saudi Arabia with nearly $435 billion. UNDP (2009), Human Development Report

  9. Regional context – facts (2) • About 66% of West Africa’s total output comes from About 66% of West Africa’s output comes from one country and the rest 14 share less than 34 % . • High unemployment and underemployment especially among the youth, including university graduates and migrants from rural to urban areas who struggle to find work and are mostly compelled to look for opportunities in the informal sector as apprentices, domestic or unpaid family workers, or as self-employed workers. • Protracted political crises and instability which have diverted attention and used up development resources

  10. Serious and Organized Crime in West Africa • Serious and Organized crime generate large illicit proceeds in West Africa, particularly corruption and drug trafficking. • The size of the amount related to corruption in West Africa is monumental and is the number one predicate offence for money laundering related prosecutions in the region. • 18 tons of cocaine worth approximately $1.25 billion were smuggled through West Africa in 2010. About $500 million of drug money remained in West Africa or was laundered through the region in 2012. • Authorities across West Africa also report frauds, abuse of trust, theft and smuggling of minerals (oil in particular), cybercrime, etc..

  11. Serious and Organized Crime in West Africa (2) • Criminals legitimize or ‘launder’ their illegally acquired proceeds so as to disguise the origin and identity and to avoid detection by authorities. • In doing so, criminals exploit the nature and mode of economic transactions, technological advances, easy movement of people, goods, and capital, and among others • The criminal proceeds are transferred through legitimate channels using series of transactions, including bank deposits and investments in legitimate businesses.

  12. Mandate of GIABA GIABA was established by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in 2000 with the mandate of: • Protecting the economies of ECOWAS Member States (MS) against the laundering of proceeds of crime; • Developing strategies to combat ML/TF in the ECOWAS region; • Assisting MS to implement effective AML/CFT measures, based on the FAFT Recommendations.

  13. The role of GIABA in Countering Organized Crime in West Africa • GIABA plays an important role in countering organized crime in West Africa by assisting its member States to implement acceptable international measures to deny criminals access to proceeds generated through criminal activities. • GIABA’s role is premised on the idea of ‘going after the money’ and making organized crime unprofitable.

  14. GIABA Strategic Plan for 2011-2014

  15. GIABA Strategic Plan 2011-2014 (2) 7. Cross cutting issues: Regional and National Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation and Long term Funding Plan

  16. the role of GIABA in Countering Organized Crime in West Africa (2) Based on its Strategic Plan, GIABA works to, among others: • Assist MS to enact; upgrade and harmonize legislation against ML in West Africa; • Help establish, strengthen, and resource Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs); • Assist member States develop strategies, structures and mechanisms against ML/TF; • Undertake training and awareness raising • Provision of equipment, such as scanners to detect cross border currency movements; • Erection of billboards with anti-money laundering messages to raise awareness in order to instigate actions against ML/TF.

  17. corruption AS THE MONSTER

  18. Challenges in fighting Organized Crime and Money Laundering in West Africa • Prevalence of corruption • Inadequate political commitment • Inadequate resources and competing priorities • Poor compliance culture with minimum AML/CFT standards; • Poor investigative and intelligence-gathering skills; • Lack of capacity and expertise to handle complex and long term cases of ML. Particularly, limited specialization on ML investigation;

  19. Challenges in fighting Organized Crime and Money Laundering (2) • Separation of ML investigation from predicate offences investigation. • Inadequate inter-agency cooperation/coordination; • Cash-dominated economic transactions; • Financial and material benefits of crime; • Insufficient/poor data management systems

  20. Challenges in fighting Organized Crime and Money Laundering (3) • Prevalence of socio-cultural practices and attitudes that glorify wealth; • “Backlash” of globalization and technological advancement; • Low capacity of countries to absorb technical assistance

  21. GIABA’s Achievements • Enactment of anti-money laundering laws by all member States • Formulation and adoption of National Strategic Frameworks against ML/TF (10 countries) • Establishment of FIUs in thirteen (13) member States, at different levels of development; • Increased knowledge and awareness of money laundering and related issues through research and typologies studies; • Strengthened capacities of relevant personnel- law enforcement, prosecutory and judiciary through training workshops and seminars.

  22. Recommendations The West Africa Commission’s moral authority is needed to effect series of policy and operational changes in the region, including: • Mainstreaming issues of organized crime and money laundering into political discourse; • Advocating for political commitment from governments in West Africa; • Establishing and/or strengthening institutional frameworks; and • Creating systems that prevent and control corruption and promote good governance

  23. Recommendations(2) • Strengthening of institutional and personnel integrity through the establishment of an independent Law Enforcement Complaint and Integrity Commissions by member States. Such commission must be independent of government and have the mandate to deal with issues of integrity and professionalism in law enforcement. • Regional coordination mechanisms against drug trafficking and organized crime should be strengthened to support countries in the region in their national actions. • A strong civil society platform should be created at the national and regional levels to serve as the watch dog for actions and ensure accountability.

  24. Recommendations(3) • There is the need to engage/persuade political leaders, especially Parliamentarians to pass the relevant laws required to effectively deal with drug trafficking, other organized crime and money laundering. • In order to have in place a sustained capacity, there is the need to have and designate regional centers of excellence for specialized training on combating corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering; • Institutional mechanisms for coordination among countries in the region should be formed and resourced to foster operational cooperation.

  25. Conclusion • Serious and organized crime, particularly corruption and drug trafficking, remain unabated in West Africa and continue to generate vast proceeds for criminals and smuggling networks. Institutions and systems have been compromised. • GIABA is playing an important role in fighting organized crime by assisting governments in the region to deny criminals of access to proceeds generated from their ‘enterprises’. • The WACD should employ its moral authority to help bring about significant policy and operational changes, including enhancing and consolidating regional cooperation frameworks and mainstreaming the relevant issues into political discourse

  26. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION GAIBA Secretariat Tel: +221338591818 Email: secretariat@giaba.org Website: www.giaba.org

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