The Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) has submitted the 2024-2028 draft National Action Plan of the country's Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/P) roadmap to Liberia's Inter-ministerial AML/CFT Steering Committee that unveils mitigating measures to address deficiencies earmarked by GIABA in Liberia's second round of mutual evaluation report and strengthen the country's readiness to combat money laundering, Terrorist Financing and other predicate offenses.
The submission of the draft National Action Plan by the FIA took place during the IMC's 2nd meeting for 2024 that witnessed the participation of competent authorities within Liberia's AML/CFT regime, including the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Liberia National Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), among other IMC members.
The Inter-ministerial Steering Committee is the country's AML/CFT national body comprising key regulatory authorities, chaired by the Ministry of Justice, and the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) as Secretary.
Speaking recently at the 2nd Inter-ministerial AML/CFT Steering Committee meeting, Justice Minister and Attorney General who chairs the IMC recalled Liberia's readiness in November 2010 after the first round of mutual evaluation by the Inter-governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) to prioritize preventive measures that address deficiencies identified in all AML/CFT/P sectors in Liberia to improve stringent technical and effectiveness regulatory compliance.
According to the IMC Chairperson, to enhance domestic cooperation in Liberia, the country's AML/CFT Inter-ministerial Steering Committee has solicited the professional contributions of all competent authorities and reporting entities in the banking, insurance, gaming and other sectors to put into place actionable technical and effectiveness mitigating measures against money laundering and other predicate offenses that are detrimental to the integrity of Liberia's financial system.
The Liberian Attorney General elaborated that Liberia is professionally prepared continuously to enhance its technical compliance that focuses on frequent improvement of its regulatory framework to be in compliance with the Financial Action Taskforce (FAFT) 40 recommendations, and GIABA, Egmont Group best practices to help safeguard Liberia's financial system against waste and abuse.
He recollected that Liberia's first round of mutual evaluation was adopted by GIABA on May 5, 2011; which led to the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Unit (now Agency), AML/CFT Act of 2012, activation of inter-agency collaboration and enactment of other technical regulatory compliance frameworks by the Liberian government to showcase the country's willingness to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.
Also speaking during the meeting, the FIA Officer-In-Charge, Mohammed A. Nasser, explained that Liberia presently needs all competent authorities' involvement in the National AML/CFT/P Action Plan to address the deficiencies GIABA identified in the country's second round of mutual evaluation report that has placed Liberia on an enhanced follow-up process.
According to Mr. Nasser, the 2022 mutual evaluation conducted by GIABA - adopted in May 2023 - indicated gains Liberia has achieved; emphasizing that more efforts need to be applied by all competent authorities that are members of the Inter-ministerial AML/CFT Steering Committee to take actionable measures as outlined in Liberia's draft 2024-2028 Action plan for robust enforcement, tricking AML/CFT compliance.
The FIA OIC mentioned that Recommendations 7 and 15 highlighted in the country's second round of mutual evaluation report conducted by GIABA, caution Liberia to take measures against proliferation financing and mandates competent authorities in Liberia to work collaborative to take actionable AML/CFT steps.
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OIC Nasser intoned that Recommendation (R) 8 has identified Non-for Profit Organizations (NPOs) as high-risk or potential conduits for Terrorist Financing (TF), adding that the FIA has taken preventive measures to address those risks with the involvement of all competent authorities.
"Liberia needs to look at other areas, including those captured under Recommendation (R)15 which looks at Visual asset and currency and R-10 that focuses on customer due diligence.
"Also, we need to reexamine our compliance to Recommendations 24 and 25, which have to do with beneficial owners and take actionable measures to address those deficiencies," he noted.
Meanwhile, the draft National AML/CFT Action Plan for 2024-2028 is expected to undergoing phases such as review by the IMC technical working group, stakeholders' validation and official launching ceremony, setting the basic for enforcement.
