GIABA equips West African judges on economic and financial crimes

The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) on 30th March ends a 3 – day capacity building seminar on economic and financial crimes for judges from Anglophone West African countries. Held in Accra, Ghana, the objective of the seminar was to sensitize the Judges on money laundering and terrorist financing trends and to keep them abreast with international initiatives and best practices in adjudicating economic and financial crimes. A total of 30 Judges from Anglophone West African States attended the seminar with a view to promote a better understanding of the problem of money laundering and terrorist financing and to share experiences with their counterparts from other parts of West Africa. The seminar was the fourth in the series of seminar GIABA organizes for judges from Anglophone ECOWAS countries aimed to enhance their capacity to effectively adjudicate on economic and financial crime in the region and to review legal frameworks and best practices. The workshop was facilitated by technical experts with extensive experience and background on anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT). The judges were trained on the following broad areas: the role of GIABA in the fight against ML/TF in the region, overview of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on money laundering and financing of terrorism, regional legal frameworks on AML/CFT regime in ECOWAS countries, overview of international conventions on ML/TF, including implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and Principles of restraint in confiscation proceedings amongst other tonic issues on economic and financial crimes. The seminar was declared open by the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, while the Director General of GIABA, Dr Abdullahi Shehu delivered the welcoming remarks.