The first 2014 anti-laundering committee meeting of the Franc zone held in Yaounde on Friday February 21, 2014.

Member countries of the Franc zone have pledged their readiness to stop at nothing in combating money laundering which is both an economic ill and a socio-political threat.  Stakeholders of the various national agencies for financial investigations and other actors who are members of the anti-laundering committee network of the Franc zone, pledged the renewed determination during the first committee meeting for 2014 which held at the Yaounde sub-regional headquarter of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) on Friday February 21 under the chairmanship of the Vice Governor of BEAC, Tahir Hamid Nguilin, who sat in for the Governor, Lucas Abaga Nchama.

The meeting sought to examine the path covered in the respect of legislation and other instruments related to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism at the level of the Economic and Monetary Union of the Franc zone and member countries, the situation of detailed financial investigation within the zone, the roles of central banks in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the calendar of contributions and the finalisation of committee reports to be presented to Finance Ministers and Governors of the Franc zone during their meeting in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in the months ahead.

Addressing participants, Tahir Hamid Nguilin said the nefarious effects of money laundering notably on financing terrorism; State’s security and other financial crimes constitute serious threats both to the economy and the socio-political life of the country. He disclosed that a finding carried out by the International Monetary Fund shows that money laundering; financing terrorism and related governance hiccups have regrettable consequences on the stability of the financial sector and the economy as a whole.

He urged member countries notably specialised units like the national agencies for financial investigations to scrupulously respect laid down rules, severely sanction defaulters, revise legislations where need be to evolve with evolutions in strategies by the perpetrators as well as ensure the  putting in place of financial investigation units in all the States. For efficiency in the Central African sub-region, the Action Group against Money Laundering in Central Africa, (GABAC), whose role is to lead, coordinate and boost actions undertaken by CEMAC member States as part of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and the various national agencies for financial investigations will liaise with those in other sub-regions to limit the upsurge of the destroyer.