Justice Minister and Attorney General, Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh, has called for a robust enforcement of Liberia's anti-Terrorist Financing laws to help safeguard the country's financial system against illicit financial activities.
Minister Tweh elaborated that terrorist financing activities are so detrimental to every country's financial system, with Liberia being no exception.
He spoke on Monday, September 23, at the opening of a 5-day capacity building workshop on Countering Terrorism Financing for national stakeholders in Liberia. The training is organized by the government in collaboration with the Inter-governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).
The Attorney General, in his opening remarks, renewed the call for collective regional and global preventive measures aimed at tackling terrorist financing deficiencies that are undermining the integrity of all countries' financial systems.
Cllr. Tweh wants frequent capacity development for competent authorities and reporting entities to enhance the fight against terrorist financing and other financial crimes.
He said enablers, launderers, and others who are allegedly involved in the movement of proceeds of crime from one location to another need to be technically traced by competent authorities based on pieces of evidence.
"They need to subsequently face prosecution for their involvement in illicit financial activities," he said, adding that illicit and legal delivery channels can be used as conduits for money exchangers and others to indirectly and directly exploit the regional and global financial system for their personal gain.
The Liberian government, the minister noted, is strengthening efforts to fight terrorist financing by building the capacity of the Liberia National Police, Liberia Immigration Service, National Security Agency, Liberia National Drug Enforcement Agency, and other governmental entities with lawful mandates to help sanitize Liberia's financial system from waste and abuse.
The Director General of GIABA, Edwin W. Harris, shared the same sentiments as the Justice Minister on the robust enforcement of national ant-terrorism financing laws.
"There is a need for robust enforcement of the anti-Terrorist Financing laws in Liberia to help safeguard the country's financial system against illicit financial activities," Harris said.
Harris noted that the fight against terrorism financing is not an isolated endeavor, but one that affects every nation and region.
According to him, GIABA's presence today in Liberia is a testament to the regional body's commitment to ensuring that Liberia's financial system and the West African regional counterparts are not exploited by those who wish to do harm to the entire ECOWAS region and elsewhere.
He hailed the Liberian government's proactive stance in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. "In particular, I must acknowledge the decisive leadership of President Boakai, and the initiatives of his government in waging an unwavering battle against corruption," the GIABA Director intoned.
DG Harris mentioned that AML/CFT efforts are essential not only to safeguarding the financial integrity of Liberia but also to bolstering Liberia's overall AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) framework.
Liberia, he said, has made positive strides but the country needs to exert more efforts regarding enforcing significant AML/CFT compliance works in Liberia.
"Liberia's recent mutual evaluation report highlighted several critical gaps within its AML/CFT regime. These deficiencies present challenges that we cannot afford to ignore, as they impact not only national security but also the nation's economic stability and reputation in the international community," DG Harris stated.
He stressed that the 5-day workshop indicates GIABA's commitment to implementing the directives of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, which recognizes countering terrorism and its financing as an urgent priority for the West African region.
The GIABA Director asserted that under the ECOWAS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, 2020-2024, GIABA is responsible for implementing component 6, which focuses specifically on countering the financing of terrorism.
He disclosed that GIABA has successfully trained over a hundred (100) trainers who have in turn disseminated their expertise to various national stakeholders.
Harris narrated that the 5-day workshop represents a continuation of these efforts, further enhancing the capacities of Liberia's institutions to detect, prevent, and disrupt terrorist financing.
"Your dedication to strengthening Liberia's ability to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is both admirable and invaluable. The skills and knowledge you have acquired are essential to the success of this week's training. I have full confidence that Liberia will make a significant impact in advancing the country's security and financial integrity," Director Harris urged.
He noted that the training offers a unique opportunity for collaboration, exchange and to engage actively in sharing experiences and learn from one another in the fight against terrorist financing.
the Officer-In-Charge of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Mohammed A. Nasser, stated that Liberia's second round of mutual evaluation report released by GIABA indicated that the country lacks technical capacity to professionally conduct in-depth investigation regarding terrorist financing cases.
The FIA OIC expressed optimism that the 5-day training will adequately improve investigative, prosecutorial, law enforcement and tax authorities' skills to timely probe terrorist financing cases to have logical conclusions that are fact-driven that can lead to possible indictments and subsequent prosecution by the court.
Officially opening the FIA-GIABA capacity building workshop on CFT, Simeon Frank, Deputy Inspector General of the Liberia National Police (LNP) for Crimes Services, explained that without due diligence in the fight against money laundering, the financial climate in Liberia and other countries will unequivocally be hostile at the advantage of Criminals who are constantly engaged in laundering dirty monies and assets through fronting means at the detriment of law-abiding individuals, organizations and governmental regulations.
The LNP Deputy Inspector for Crimes Services holds the belief that the training will sharpen the collective skills of the participants to detect, prevent, arrest, and investigate suspected individuals, organizations, banking institutions that are allegedly linked to terrorist financing.
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He said Money laundering disguises financial assets without detecting the illegal activity that produced them. Franks wants robust enforcement of AML/CFT laws because online banking and crypto currency have created delivery channels for criminals to transfer and withdraw money without detection.
Meanwhile, the weeklong training seeks to highlight another vital step in GIABA and the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) efforts to combat the growing and ever-evolving threats posed by terrorism and the illicit financial flows that fuel it.
Some of the participants attending the ongoing Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) capacity-building workshop include the National Security Agency (NSA), Liberia National Police (LNP), Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), Liberia National Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Ministry of Justice.
Others include: Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), National Lottery Authority (NLA), Liberia Business Registry (LBR), General Auditing Commission (GAC), and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA).
The LNP Deputy Inspector for Crime Services pleaded with participants to understand and work strategically for the strict enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) measures, international standards and procedures for combating terrorist financing in Liberia.
