The Inter-Governmental Action against Money
Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) on Thursday said that its efforts
at fighting money laundering and terrorism financing in member-states
were fraught with challenges.
GIABA is a specialised institution of ECOWAS and the Financial Action
Task Force-Styled Regional Body(FSRB), with the mandate to protect the
economies of member-states from the laundering of the proceeds of
crime.
GIABA’s Director General, Justice Kimelabalou Aba, who made the
disclosure at the Annual GIABA World News Conference in Dakar,
Senegal, said that the organisation was facing a technical staff
deficit.
Aba said that the ECOWAS institution was currently, among others,
experiencing the problem of inadequate interpreters and translators in
the effective discharge of its responsibilities.
“There is inadequate technical staff at our secretariat, as well
as insufficient interpreters and translators.
“GIABA has also observed that there is lack of understanding among
experts in mutual evaluation, inadequate supervision and reporting in
West Africa.
“There is also some inadequacy in the required tools for monitoring the
movement of funds in the region,’’ he said.
Aba, who said that GIABA urgently needed the recruitment of more
technical staff, interpreters and translators, added that it also needed
an appropriate mechanism for implementing recommendations.
He said that despite its challenges, GIABA had in 2018 recorded successes
in the areas of mutual evaluation and risk assessment in some member-
states.
The director-general said that it was important for the media to be
alive to its responsibilities of investigating and reporting on issues
of money laundering and terrorism financing. (NAN)
