By: Linda Gbartie
MONROVIA: In the fight against money laundering, and financing of terrorist groups, Liberia has joined the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is a global institution that facilitates and promotes the exchange of information, knowledge, and cooperation amongst Financial Intelligence Units.
The Egmont Group provides financial intelligence units with a platform to securely exchange expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and associated predicate crimes.
The Officer-In-Charge of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) of Liberia, Mr. Mohammed A. Nasser, has disclosed that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Liberia has been trying and fighting to join the Egmont Group which is a bigger network and has approximately 174 institutions around the world as members of the group.
Mr. Nasser made the disclosure on Monday, June 10, 2024, when he spoke on the Super Morning Show on ELBC Radio station in Paynesville.
Mr. Nasser said to join the group, one has to meet up with setting requirements. He said the country’s laws will have to be flexible in terms of sharing information and some basis requirements like structure including action your country has taken over a period of time as it relates to fighting corruption and other financial crimes.
According to him, Liberia has done its best in terms of meeting up with most of the Egmont Group requirements.
He indicated that Liberian officials went to France and met with the relevant authorities of the global network aimed at working together.
“I want to thank Ghana for starting the process; to join the group, it requires you to have two mentors and so Ghana and Nigeria were our mentors, however, Ghana was absent for one of the meetings.
“And so, Congo Brazzaville and Nigeria stood with us in the process, and at the end of the day, Liberia was admitted into the Egmont Group,” Mr. Nasser said.
Speaking on some of the benefits of Liberia joining the Egmont Group, Mr. Nasser said, as it relates to the current access recovery process, there is nowhere in the world anybody whether government officials or anybody for that matter can squander the country’s resources and move into another country and feels they cannot be hooked.
“You will be hooked by the Egmont Group. The Group is all about sharing information and using your counterparts in other countries to help you get at some of these people and get those things back to your country, he stressed.
“For example, some people in this country, you may have issues with them based upon your investigation, and people don’t want to take action locally, you can have the Egmont Group informed, internationally there is going to be some actions,” he added.
He highlighted that the Group is a network of country all around the world to strengthen the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorist groups.
The Egmont Group recognizes that financial intelligence sharing is paramount and has become the cornerstone of international efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and associated predicate crimes and offenses.
Mr. Nasser said President Joseph Nyuma Boakai means business about fighting corruption and has taken it very serious and will not support anything when as it relates to corruption.
“People who use this country to smuggle money in and out or where ever it can be aware that we are strong on that,” he noted.
Mr. Nasser emphasized that there are lots of things that were not done during the past administration at the FIA that it is doing now.
“We are going to ensure that we ratified most of those things, the Minister of Justice is prepared for that, and he has assured me that we are going to work together to ensure that we will ratify all of the issues and be able to move forward,” he asserted.
