By Edouard Touré After 20 years of existence, the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) must breathe in the fire in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (LBC/FT), its Director General, Kimelabalou Aba, said on Wednesday.

“Looking forward to the next 20 years, I imagine an institution that will be the pride of Africa; therefore (...), let's make our voices heard, let's speak up and breathe in the fire of the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and its proliferation with all the tools at our disposal,” said Mr. Aba.

Speaking at a virtual conference as part of the celebration of GIABA's 20th anniversary, he emphasized that the institution continues to face several challenges, including the lack of political will to carry out the LBC/FT process successfully.

“GIABA must also, continued Kimelabalou Aba, address the challenges of insufficient funding for the implementation of AML/CFT programmes, the low capacity (both human and institutional) of member states to effectively implement AML/CFT measures, and shortcomings in the national legal framework and in national coordination and collaboration between competent authorities.”

These challenges also include the low level of regional and international cooperation, complexities in administering LBC/FT arrangements, the slow pace of introducing legislative changes in the region, specific regional weaknesses (geography challenges, armed conflicts, ethnic and religious conflicts, organized crime and corruption), and the informal nature of the region and its economy. species-based.

However, Mr. Aba welcomed, among other achievements, the completion of the first cycle of mutual evaluations of member States to assess their compliance with the FATF Recommendations and address the identified shortcomings, the adoption of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) laws by all its member states, and the establishment of the Interministerial Coordinating Committees of LBC/FT at the national level. in the Member States and the establishment and operationalization of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), some of which are now full members of the Egmont Group

The same applies to the publication of more than twenty (20) research and typology reports that help to facilitate the understanding of the risks, trends, methods and techniques used by criminals to carry out their harmful activities and to facilitate and support the conduct of national CBC/FT risk assessments in Member States to enable them to design relevant strategies to curb the identified risks.