Money launderers, terrorism financiers have no haven in Ghana

By Ebenezer Hanson

If President John Agyekum Kufuor gives his assent to the Anti-Money Laundering Bill subsequent to its passage by Parliament, money launderers and terrorist financiers will find Ghana an unsafe haven to perpetrate their and nefarious and economy wrecking activities.

The Bill, which went through its Second Reading in Parliament last Friday, “seeks to prohibit money laundering and related crimes including terrorist financing, and to establish a financial intelligence system to monitor, detect and expose such crimes for necessary legal action and to provide for related matters.”

Money laundering according to the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) is an act to conceal or disguise the identity of illegally obtained proceeds so that the proceeds appear to have originated from legitimate sources. The Bill makes the crime an extraditable offence.

Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Finance and Economic Planning Minister, who is sponsoring the Bill through Parliament, notes in the Bill’s memorandum that, “ money laundering affords drug traffickers, persons engaged in human trafficking, illegal arms dealers, terrorists, persons engaged in corruption, tax evaders and other criminals the avenue to operate and develop their enterprises with impunity.”

He further observes that in the “ absence of an effective legal regime to help eradicate this problem, it will affect the efficient performance of the organs of government, financial institutions, professional bodies and the country.
This will in the long term, erode confidence in the banking system, established institutions and have negative repercussions on the image of the country.”

He says money laundering ultimately undermines the legitimate private sector, causes loss of control of economic policies, and capital flight, leads to the loss of government revenue and economic distortion. In addition, he observes that, money laundering affects the national reputation, corrupts the financial system and undermines social values.

Thus “the introduction of an anti-money laundering system that can monitor and detect unusual financial transactions coupled with knowing the identity of the customer behind the transaction offers the best method to combat money laundering,” Baah-Wiredu stated.

Presenting the Parliamentary Finance Committee Report on the Bill to the House, Hon. Nii Adu Daku Mante, observed that threat of organised crime such as money laundering and related criminal transactions, especially in the wake of global terrorism has and continue to raise concerns both locally and internationally.

According to him, the crucial point at which money laundering and the related criminal activity under the Bill could be detected is at the initial entry of tainted funds in the economy.

He submits that, in the event of failure to detect this, such funds may be lost in a chain of transactional hops and eventually end up being invested in legitimate assets which allow the laundered money to lose its taint and even continue the perpetuation of crime.

“The need to create a robust legal regime that can detect and expose laundering and related crimes including terrorist financing for appropriate legal actions necessitated the introduction of this Bill, ”he said.

In an interview the shadow Attorney General, Hon. Alfred Agbesi, welcomed the Bill. “ If we don’t steps to stop the inflow of laundered cash, the future of the youth of this country will be bleak. Those who will take over the running of this country will be people of questionable character.”

He argues that no country will sit down unconcerned for an activity such as money laundry to take place within its borders, especially against the backdrop of global concerns over the drug menace.

He explained that the operations of bodies like the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) are generally within borders of Ghana while the nature of money laundering is extra territorial and therefore require a separate institution with full authority to liaise with similar bodies to deal with the menace.

“The Bill seeks to give the Financial Intelligence Centre a free hand to operate and deal swiftly with money laundering, an internationally syndicated crime which cutting across borders.”

Contributing to the debate on the Bill, the MP for Tamale for South, Hon. Iddrisu Haruna, said passage of the Bill by the House is not an end in itself since its success or otherwise requires the co-operation of other international institutions.

He disclosed that Africa loses over $50 billion annually through capital flight and it is believed that a chunk of this amount is loss through money laundering. He therefore called on the entire House to give their blessings to the Bill in order to halt this anti-development activity.

The Majority Chief Whip, Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, described the Bill as an important piece of legislation. He observed that money laundering is contributing to moral corruption and has the tendency to corrupt politics.

“If money launderers infiltrate our politics by financing political parties to prosecute elections, they will end up twisting the political will of the people and the verdict of the people would be stolen,” he explains.