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Government to fight money laundering – Mould-Iddrisu
Accra, May 26, Ghanadot/GNA - The
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu
on Tuesday announced the review of the current Anti-Money
Laundering Bill and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) bill to
strengthen the capacity of the SFO in the fight against money
laundering and organised crime.
She said the country was also determined to establish the
Financial Intelligence Centre to counter terrorism financing and
other crimes in the system.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu who was speaking at the first meeting of the
Inter Ministerial Committee on Anti-money Laundering and
Organised Crime in Accra, reiterated government’s commitment in
the fight against Money Laundering and Organized crime in the
country.
She said money laundering and organized crime were cross-boarder
crimes which no one country in the West African sub-region could
handle.
The committee comprises the Ministry of Justice and Attorney
General, the Ministries of Finance and the Interior, the Bank of
Ghana and the National Security Co-ordinator.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said it was essential that a result-oriented
approach was adopted with regard to implementing effective
measures to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and
cyber crime in the country.
She said since organised crime was cross-border and
multidimensional it was only through sharing of information,
common planning and joint implementation by countries in West
Africa before real success could be achieved.
Mrs Juliet Serwah Odei-Asare, Representative of the
International Action Group Against Money Laundering (GIABA) said
the group made an on site visit to Ghana in April 2009 to assess
the legal, financial and supervisory bodies, international
cooperation as well as the law enforcement regime.
She said the assessors in their findings acknowledged the work
done so far by Ghana in the fight against money laundering and
terrorists financing especially the legal sector through the
passage of legislation and the ratification of United Nations
Conventions.
She said even though Ghana had made some progress, there was the
need to review the implementation process of the Anti-Money
Laundering Act issuing guidelines to reporting institutions.
She said certain international standards could not be
implemented in Ghana because of its cash based economy and
therefore the need for training and outreach to change certain
industry practices.
Mrs. Odei-Asare also urged government to expedite action on the
Mutual Legal Assistance Bill and Extradition Bill to provide the
implementing agencies powers for enforcement.
GNA
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