The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that Ghana will soon institute measures to deepen collaboration between the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Financial Forensic Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service to ensure that financial crimes are drastically reduced.

According to him, these measures will be put in place to ensure that tax evaders face the rigours of the law and also ensure that money laundering practices are drastically reduced, if not eradicated.

Additionally, Ghana will consider establishing an Asset Management Office to effectively deal with property related crimes.

He disclosed these in a key note address at the opening of a workshop organised by the Inter governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering (GIABA) in collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Dr Buno Nduka, Director for Programmes and Projects for Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), noted that between 3 and 5 per cent of annual GDP is lost through money laundering in West Africa, adding that it is difficult to identify the quantum or the exact amount of money West Africa loses through the process.

“People are hiding money. We are aware of what is happening in the sub- region where a lot of people are hiding a lot of foreign currencies in their homes and these types of activities cannot be captured,” he stressed.

The workshop which brought together experts from the West Africa sub-region sought to train assessors in compliance monitoring.

The compliance monitoring, first of all evaluate the countries on the progress it has made towards combating money laundering to ascertain the efforts member states are making.

GIABA is the umbrella organisation for West Africa in dealing with money laundering, but now has other members outside West Africa.

GIABA is helping member states to put in place programmes to be able to implement effective and robust measures through capacity building, compliance and monitoring.