+Mr+Drammeh,+Mr+Jahateh+and+Mr+Camara+2.JPG) |
| L - R: Mr Drammeh, Mr Jahateh and Mr Camara (Photo Credit: MSJoof/TNBES/Feb2014) |
The director of the Financial Intelligence Unit
(FIU) has promise to work with the Network of Journalists against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing – The Gambia, a national chapter of the
sub-regional network.
Yahya Camara said his Unit is ready to work with the network to
see how best the right information on the scourges of the twin evils of Money
Laundering and Financing Terrorism (ML
and FT) reach the masses.
The
FIU is established by an Act of the parliament and is mandated to render services such combating ML and FT in The Gambia.
Mr Camara was speaking to members of the network
during a courtesy call to his office, located within the Central Bank of The
Gambia in Banjul, on Wednesday.
Speaking earlier, Lamin Jahateh, coordinator of
the network, said the purpose of the visit is to formally introduce the network
to the FIU, and to discuss areas that the FIU can collaborate with the network,
as part of the network’s 2014 action plan.
The main objectives of the network include
complementing the efforts of the Inter-Governmental
Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in
combating economic and financial crimes in the sub-region with a view to
protect the national economies and financial systems from ML.
The network also aims to build the capacity of
journalists reporting on issues pertaining to money laundering and terrorism
financing.
Mr Jahateh said this year the network intends to
organize a seminar to familiarise journalists with the Anti-Money Laundering
and Counter Financing Terrorism Act of The Gambia.
“This is to help journalists to be au fait with
the tools and knowledge needed to do a proper reporting and analysis of the
twin crimes,” he said.
He also told the FIU boss that the network
intends to hold a symposium on International Anti-Corruption Day, 9th
December. “The event will be staged to
raise awareness on the menace of corruption as it is one of the sources where
people derive illicit fund to launder or to finance criminals.”
The network also has plans to prepare and
publish an E-Newsletter that will contain quality reports and feature articles
on ML and FT, as part of its efforts to disseminate information on the twin
crimes.
Welcomed initiatives
Mr Camara, director of the FIU, said the
initiatives of the network are welcome and that the FIU will see how best they
can collaborate with the network.
On the training, he said, already the FIU has
little funding from the African Development Bank and there are trainings as
part of the package that they are supposed to do with different sectors.
“So, we will see how best we can stage at least
one training for journalists on the AML/CFT Act. We have not yet finalise on the programme
schedules, but we will see where to fit it in,” he said.
“But again you also have to work more with GIABA
to be organisaing more training for journalists in The Gambia. Not only providing a single training, but it
should be ongoing. At least one or twice
in a year, GIABA should come up to help train journalists on AML/CFT issues,”
he added.
Aside from staging a tailor-made training for
journalists, the FIU boss said they will also be inviting one or journalists
from the network to be participating in the trainings the FIU will organized
for different stakeholders so that the journalists can be sensitized on
different aspects of ML and FT.
The meeting was also attended by Mr Essa
Drammeh, director of Financial Supervision Department of the Central Bank of
The Bank and Modou S. Joof, a member of the journalists’ network.
The Network of Journalists against Money
Laundering is a national chapter of the Network of Journalists against Money
Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in West Africa.
The sub-regional media network includes senior
journalists and editors from Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
among other West African countries. The
aim is to form a regional media alliance to wage massive crusade against money
laundering and terrorism financing.
The establishment of the media network is in
cognizance of the crucial role of the media in the fight against money
laundering and financing of terrorism.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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