Government is committed to fight money laundering – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has revealed that the Government of Ghana is fully committed to fighting against organized crimes including money laundering.

His comment follows the release and subsequent publication of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation (AML/CFT&P) policy – (2019 -2022 ), by the central bank, the Bank of Ghana on Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

Mr Ofori-Atta who is also Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on AML/CFT stated in the Forward of the Policy that: “It is the National Policy of Ghana to engage and coordinate all relevant agencies across the entirety of government in order to combat Money Laundering (ML), Terrorism Financing (TF) and the Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (P). This effort is coordinated by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) chaired by the Minister of Finance.

“The implementation of Ghana’s National AML/CFT Policy and Action Plan is to achieve its set goals and meet international standards. This would be executed by a Technical Implementation Committee, a dedicated staff of experts from all relevant agencies, tasked with monitoring the successful implementation of the National AML/CFT Policy and Action Plan.”

He added: “The aim of Ghana’s AML/CFT Policy is to: 1) detect, deter and vigorously investigate and prosecute ML/TF&P related offenses, associated predicate offences; and 2) to protect the integrity of Ghana’s financial system from illicit financial activity and corruption.

“Ghana’s current AML/CFT efforts are both aspirational with respect to our nation’s economic and security goals as well as responsive to the risks identified during our National Risk Assessment and the findings of the Second Round of AML/CFT Mutual Evaluation exercise as reflected in the ICRG action plan.

“These efforts are focused on improving our comprehensive legal and regulatory framework; strengthening our institutional capacity through increased resourcing and training, enhanced international cooperation with other jurisdictions; a mature and pervasive culture of compliance; effective monitoring of the measures implemented; and decisive law enforcement actions against ML/TF&P threats.

“The Government of Ghana, at the highest political level, is fully committed to implementing the National AML/CFT Policy and Action Plan.

“Ghana will continue to play its required role in the global fight against illicit financial flows, terrorism financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and will continue to collaborate with the FATF, GIABA and other development partners in its efforts to address the deficiencies and risks identified in the country’s AML/CFT regime.”