‘Non-passage of money laundering bill won’t affect fight against financial crimes’

The delay by the National Assembly to pass the proposed amendment to Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act will not affect ongoing efforts by the Federal Government against money laundering and related crimes in the country.

The Director, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Francis Usani gave this assurance in Abuja on Tuesday while speaking at the the ongoing pre-assessment training workshop for Nigeria, organised by the Inter-Government Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

Usani, who said he could not say the current stage the National Assembly has got in its works on the amendment Bill, disclosed that the Executive has made its necessary contributions.

He said: “I wouldn’t know the stage the Bill is now. But it is a matter pending before the National Assembly. I don’t really know how far they have gone, though I understand certain observations that did not conform well the entire Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) architecture.

“We have had meetings and workshops to address those issues and we made our own position known. As it stands now I can’t possibly say where the National Assembly has reached.

“Not at all. The non-passage of the Bill will not affect the implementation of the strategy. What I want you to understand is that it was on the strength of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, which was passed in 2011 and amended in 2013 that Nigeria was removed from the Grey List.

If you ask me, I will tell you that I do not see anything wrong with that law. I will say that law, to a greater extent, satisfy our currents needs as a country

“I know that the fight against the AML/CFT  is a dynamic thing, because criminals are always changing tactics and there are changes in trends and patterns,  so it is also good to look at the laws, amend and put in some new provisions to make quite effective.

“I think that is what the current amendment law is intended to do – to fill some of the gaps that have been seen as the new trend in the fight against money laundering.

“So, I would not say the Bill is not necessary, since its proposal is to enhance  the Money Laundering Prohibition Act. It is necessary,.but then, it is not something that we should look as very fundamental. It is not as fundamental as people think it is,” he said.

He noted that there was nothing to worry about because the relevant international agencies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Egmond Group and the World Bank are not raising any issue about the existing law.

Usani said the Federal Government has commenced the implementation The recently unveiled Strategy and Action Plan for Fight against Money Laundering.

“We have started the implementation of the AML/CFT architecture action plan for Nigeria. It’s an action plan that is supposed to last for two years, 2018 to 2020.

“So implementation has commenced by putting structures on ground. The Federal Executive Council has adopted the action plan and strategy.

“We are going to have a sort of sensitization workshop where we will expose the responsibilities and obligations to the stakeholders, so that NFIU will monitor the implementation.

“I think this is one of the very key things this administration has done to show the commitment to the fight against money laundering,” he said.

The Director General of GIABA, Kimelabalou Aba praised Nigeria for all its efforts at combating money laundering and terrorism financing in the country.

The GIABA DG, who was represented by a director of the agency, Buno Nduka commended the country for accepting to undergo mutual evaluation in September/October 2019 to ascertain it’s level of compliance with the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.

He said the workshop is intended to prepare participants for the task of reviewing of  Nigeria.