Bill against laundering in the offing

A draft bill that seeks to address the devastating economic, security and social consequences of money laundering is soon to be submitted to the Minister of Finance for processing.

The anti-money laundering bill, which is the brainchild of the Bank of Ghana, the Committee for Co-operation between Law Enforcement Agencies and Banking Communities (COCLAB) and some local institutions was prepared with input from the US State Department, the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority and the International Monetary Fund.

Dr Paul Acquah, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana disclosed this at a two-day seminar on Economic and Financial Fraud and Computer Crime in Accra on Monday.

About forty participants drawn from the banks, security services and financial institutions in the country are attending the seminar organized by the National Banking College and AITEC to sharpen their awareness in investigating and preventing white-collar crime.

Dr Acquah said white-collar crime was a major challenge to the economic development efforts since it increased a country's risk profile, translating into higher costs of doing business with various institutions in the international community.

It as well has security implications, which influenced needed foreign exchange inflows through the tourism business.

The Governor said because of the serious implications of economic and financial crime on a nation, efforts should be made to stem them before they go beyond control.

He called for inter-institutional support and co-operation, particularly among institutions in areas of compliance, monitoring, investigation, prosecution and enforcement.

Dr Paul Acquah said the BOG as part of measures to ensure the safety, soundness and stability in the banking and financial system, had directed all banks to put in place adequate policies, practices and procedures to prevent the banking system from being used for international economic crimes.

All the banks, according to the Central Bank directive were to put in place, "know your customer programmes with focus on customer acceptance policy, customer identification, risk management and on-going monitoring of high risk accounts.

Besides, the banks were also required to report cases of fraud and other financial crimes to the Banking Supervision Department of the BOG for action.

Dr Acquah suggested the importance for individuals to channel all transactions through accredited financial institutions, and avoid using informal sector operations as a vehicle as well as collaborate with security agencies to ensure successful arrest and prosecution of fraudsters.

Mrs. Adelaide Benneh, Director of the National Banking College, said growth in the use of the Internet was making it easier for cyber fraudsters to dupe people, necessitating aggressive policies to protect consumers.

She urged participants to take the seminar seriously and design innovative strategies to fight the menace.