The Inter-Governmental Action against Money Laundering and Terrorists Financing in West Africa (GIABA),  has observed a reduction in terrorists financing and money laundering activities among member countries of ECOWAS in 2018.

GIABA is an institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) established in 2000 to combat terrorists’ financing and fight against money laundering across West Africa.

GIABA’s Information Manager in Nigeria, Mr Timothy Melaye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos that more countries had complied with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2018.

“In 2018, GIABA had again demonstrated its commitment to support

countries in West Africa in the fight against money laundering and

terrorists financing.

“ECOWAS member countries did well last year in the fight against

money laundering and terrorists’ financing in their countries.

“Many of these countries have enacted laws, and today, these countries

have different anti-money laundering regimes that are now becoming stronger

and stronger.

“Though we are awaiting statistics from these engagements, it is no

longer an easy task for people to launder money again due to the

systems on ground,’’ he said.

Melaye said that GIABA had in 2018 embarked on advocacy visits to

raise awareness and support for national authorities in fighting

against money laundering and terrorists financing in their countries.

GIABA’s information manager also said that the organisation had

also embarked on mutual evaluation of more West African countries,

including Senegal, Cape Verde and Burkina Faso.

“And in the course of carrying out our mutual evaluation, we have

discovered the compliance of few more countries.

“We have discovered that the movement of money across different

countries is now increasingly becoming difficult because of the

systems in place.

“We have even discovered that people now keep large sums of money

in their homes because of the strong systems being put in place by the

different countries of ECOWAS,’’ he said.

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA)

is a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States responsible

for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and

Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in West Africa.

GIABA was established in 2000 and has its headquarters in Dakar, Senegal. It consists of

17 member states.