Osinbajo: Money Laundering is West Africa’s Greatest Existential Threat

Says lines between terrorists, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, traffickers blurred Laments barriers to repatriation of looted funds from developed countries

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday in Abuja that money laundering posed serious threat to crucial existential issues in West Africa, stressing that the menace needs to be tackled with utmost unity and determination. Osinbajo stated this at the opening ceremony of the 18th ministerial committee meeting of the InterGovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

The vice president said the political and economic stability of countries in the sub-region depended heavily on a successful war against the movement of the proceeds of crime. He lamented the obstacles to the repatriation of looted funds stashed in the developed countries, despite various mutual assistance treaties and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.

Osinbajo stated, “At risk from money laundering, especially the laundering of proceeds of corruption, and terrorist financing, are the stability of our financial and political systems, and ultimately the development of our countries and the prosperity of our people.

“What this means is that we are dealing here with an existential threat – it’s either we wipe it out or it wipes us out.”

He said, “We know that the lines between terrorist groups, corrupt politicians, traffickers (whether of drugs, guns or people); fraudsters; smugglers; kidnappers; illegal oil bunkerers, etc., have always been blurry; that these groups have always found complementary need for one another’s tactics and strategies. Indeed, if there’s one thing that the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, from Al Qaeda to ISIS to Al-Shabaab, have in common, it is the ease and expertise with which they diversify their criminal activity while retaining their overarching goal of inflicting maximum devastation.”

Osinbajo said the wideranging dangers of money laundering and other financial crimes should spur the countries to treat such criminalities with zero tolerance. “We have for long enough affirmed our commitment as a sub-region to fighting money laundering and terrorist financing. We must now back this intent with forceful action and visible results,” he said.

He acknowledged the previous efforts of countries within the sub-region to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, but said more needed to be done, especially to keep abreast of new criminal tactics.

According to the vice president, “Information sharing is very important to the success of our fight. This means that on the one hand we should rise above the temptations of secretiveness and mutual suspicion; and on the other hand, we must do everything in our power to sustain trust and confidence by safeguarding every piece of information that is being shared across national databases.

“We must also strive to work beyond the barriers imposed by the differences in our various legal systems, bearing in our minds that the criminals we are tackling have never allowed themselves to be held back by these obstacles.”