On Friday 25 June, parliamentarians adopted new amendments to the Senegalese penal code and criminal procedure code. According to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Malick Sall, the major changes actually concern the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and maritime shipping offenses

Before parliamentarians, the Keeper of the Seals gave a presentation on the content and major changes of the new law on terrorist financing and related activities. “In order to effectively combat terrorism in all its forms, certain crimes committed in organized gangs and any other form of parallel economy, it is necessary to broaden the range of terrorist financing offences, to give a more comprehensive scope to the offence of criminal association, to lay down a general regime for the criminal liability of legal persons and to rethink the confiscation regime, through a revision of the law and relative”, says the statement of reasons.

With regard to the repression of acts of terrorist financing, the statement of reasons indicates that it was not covered by Law No. 2018-03 of 23 February 2018 relating to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. To correct these shortcomings, section 279-6 has been substantially amended. In its form presented and finally adopted by the deputies this Friday, June 25, the law has been slightly amended in its article 279-1 in which forced labor for life has been replaced by criminal imprisonment for life. On the other hand, new provisions have been inserted in article 279-6 to take into account facts that were not covered by Law No. 2018-03 of February 23, 2018. To this end, paragraph 5 of 279-6 punishes with life imprisonment “the deliberate provision or collection, by any means whatsoever, directly or indirectly, of funds which he plans to use or which he knows will be used to finance the travel of persons going to a State other than their State of residence or of which they are nationals, for the purpose of committing, of organize or prepare terrorist acts, or in order to participate in them or to provide or receive terrorist training.”

In paragraph 7 of the same article, the same penalty is provided for any person who directly or indirectly makes funds, financial assets, economic resources or financial services or other related services available to terrorist organizations or terrorists, for whatever reason, including, but not limited to, recruitment, training Ending or traveling, even in the absence of a link to a specific terrorist act. Article 279-8, paragraph 2, punishes with five to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 francs to 2,000,000 francs “those who cannot demonstrate resources commensurate with their lifestyle, while having regular relations with one or more persons who engage in a terrorist act.