The Secretary of State for Finance and Budget, Alixe Naimbaye, opened the work of the 13th Plenary of the Technical Commission of the Action Group against Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC), this Friday, October 16, 2020, by videoconferencing. The objective of this meeting is to address the issue of the increase in crime linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The meeting will focus, for three days, on money laundering and the financing of terrorism. According to the analyzes carried out by this body of the Economic Commission of Central African States, it emerges that – ” funds allocated to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and financial aid create new sources of income for white collar offenders and exacerbate the phenomena of cybercrime. ”
Representing the Minister of Finance who is also president of Gabac,
Ndolenodji Alixe Naimbaye, said: “The fight against transnational crime helps protect the entire financial system, attract investment, promote economic prosperity and ensure protection of international trade.”
Control and supervisory authorities, financial intelligence services and law enforcement agencies should continue to share information with all actors in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This collaboration between the players will make it possible to prioritize and address the main risks of money laundering, in particular those linked to fraud and the risks of terrorist financing linked to Covid-19.
The director of the National Agency for Financial Investigations (ANIF), Abdelkérim Soulyeman, believes that this meeting is an opportunity to continue discussions on the points around which there was no consensus in the dedicated groups .
During the three days, the work groups will analyze the reports from each GABAC member country and will come up with recommendations from the typology studies.
