Government to fight money laundering

Accra, May 26, 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.