The Inter- Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, {GIABA}, has called on Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries to step up their approach in the fight against the menace of money laundering and terrorism financing in the sub-region.
Speaking at the annual briefing session for ECOWAS Ambassadors and development partners in Dakar, Senegal at the weekend, Director General, GIABA, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, said that to deepen regional integration in line with ECOWAS’ Vision 2020 agenda, there was the urgent need to improve on the political commitment of member States for the implementation of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes in the region.
He explained that the report of GIABA’s recent evaluation of member countries showed that most of them are still struggling with the implementation of the old Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, stressing that the poor compliance is a pointer to the level of vulnerability of the financial systems to money laundering and other related crimes.
Detailed news link: here