Parliament adopts LI on Anti-Money Laundering

Accra, March 25, GNA - Parliament on Thursday adopted a Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008 (Act 749) enacted to track criminals and financiers of terrorist activities.

A report presented by the Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh, Chairman of the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, stated that appropriate provisions were made in the instrument to augment the efforts of the security agencies in combating crime and corruption. He said the application of the legal framework would help to prevent criminals and terrorists from operating in the country. Mr Osei-Prempeh said the proposed instrument provided ample measures to verify the identities of persons involved in money laundering and the detection of their proceeds of unlawful activities. He noted that the legislation also provided for reporting of suspicious and unusual transactions by accountable institutions. Mr Osei-Prempeh said intelligence report emanating from reports by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) on money laundering activities were expected to be forwarded to the security agencies for appropriate actions to combat crime as well as maintained peace and security necessary for growth and development.

He said the coming into force of the proposed LI would promote economic growth by protecting businesses and customers, adding that sound application of anti money laundering regime would significantly improve the confidence of both investors and customers to enhance industrial growth.

Mr Osei-Prempeh indicated that the LI would improve Ghana's international rating in the fight against money laundering of which Ghana was poorly rated by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in 2009.

He said the passage of the LI would enable Ghana to qualify to apply for membership of the EGMONT Group, the international anti-money Laundering body to speed up its anti-money laundering agenda. This must be done within three months after coming into force of the LI according to the report. 25 March 11