As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen Liberia’s AML/CFT regime, the Inter-governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) and the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) conducted a 5-day Capacity Building Workshop for Competent Authorities on Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in Liberia.

The week-long training for Competent Authorities represented yet another critical milestone towards combating the growing and ever-evolving threats posed by terrorism and the illicit financial flows that fuel such criminal activities.

The training is in fulfilment of Component- 6 of the ECOWAS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan – 2020-2024, which focuses on countering the financing of terrorism, with GIABA as the lead implementer of this component.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from competent authorities – including the National Security Agency (NSA), Liberia National Police (LNP), Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), Liberia National Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Ministry of Justice.

Also in attendance were the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Center For Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), National Lottery Authority (NLA), Liberia Business Registry (LBR), General Auditing Commission (GAC), and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA).

Speaking at the ceremony making the official opening of the weeklong training workshop, Liberia’s Justice Minister and Chairman of the AML/CFT Inter-ministerial Committee (IMC), Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh described Terrorist Financing activities as “detrimental to every country’s financial system”, with Liberia being of no exception.

Cllr. Tweh renewed call for national, regional and global coordination, collaboration, and cooperation in tackling the deficiencies that undermine the integrity of countries’ financial systems.

Minister Tweh noted that frequent capacity building trainings for competent authorities and reporting entities were necessary for enhancing Liberia’s fight against terrorist financing and predicate offenses.

He said with such AML/CFT knowledge and technical expertise, competent authorities can and will effectively identify, trace, and investigate illicit financial activities, to prosecute enablers and launderers of proceeds of crime, and their accomplices.

Cllr. Tweh said the goal of the capacity building workshop was aligned with Government of Liberia’s efforts to strengthen the fight against terrorist financing, by building the technical capacity of law enforcement agencies, including the Liberia National Police, Liberia Immigration Service, National Security Agency, Liberia National Drug Enforcement Agency and other relevant parastatals of government, to help sanitize Liberia’s financial system from waste and abuse.
In his remark at the opening ceremony, the Director General of GIABA, Mr. Edwin W. Harris, warned that the fight against terrorist financing is not an isolated endeavor, as it affects every nation and region of the world.

He expressed GIABA’s committed to ensuring that the financial systems of countries in the West African region were not exploited by terrorists and their financiers.
Harris hailed the Liberian Government for its proactive stance in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

“In particular, I must acknowledge the decisive leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Joseph N. Boakai, and the initiatives of his government in waging an unwavering battle against corruption,” Harris lauded the Liberian Government.

The GIABA Director General also mentioned that AML/CFT efforts are essential not only for safeguarding the financial integrity of Liberia, but also for bolstering Liberia’s overall AML/CFT legal framework.

He praised Liberia’s positive strides in its AML/CFT regime but elevated the need to exert much effort towards the enforcement of essential AML/CFT compliance measures in Liberia.
“Liberia’s recent mutual evaluation report unearthed several critical gaps within its AML/CFT regime. These deficiencies present challenges that we cannot afford to ignore, as they impact not only national security, but also the nation’s economic stability and reputation in the international community,” Director Harris continued.

The 5-day workshop, Mr. Harris stressed, signified GIABA’s commitment to implementing the directives of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, which recognizes countering the financing of terrorism as an urgent priority for West Africa.

He disclosed that GIABA has successfully trained over a hundred trainers who were now sharing their expertise with various national stakeholders in their respective countries. Mr. Harris said the capacity building training workshop represented a continuation of efforts geared towards further enhancing the capacities of Liberia’s law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and lead AML/CFT institutions to detect, prevent, and disrupt terrorist financing.

“Your dedication to strengthening Liberia’s capacity to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is both enviable and invaluable. Acquiring useful CFT investigation skills and knowledge is the central objective of this week-long training. With such skills and insights, I have full confidence that Liberia can make a significant impact in advancing the country’s security and financial integrity,” Director Harris urged.

For his part, the Officer -In-Charge (OIC) of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Mohammed A. Nasser, in his opening remarks, stated that Liberia’s second round of mutual evaluation report (MER-2) released by GIABA, indicated that the country lacks technical capacity to professionally conduct in-depth investigation involving terrorist financing cases.

The OIC however expressed optimism that the 5-day training would reverse these deficiencies by adequately improving the investigative and prosecutorial skills of competent authorities in terrorist financing cases – leading to possible indictments, prosecution, and court convictions.
As he officially opened the training, Liberia National Police (LNP) Deputy Inspector General for Crimes Services, Simeon Frank, explained that without due diligence in the fight against money laundering, Liberia’s financial climate would simply be hostile to the advantage of criminals who are constantly engaged in money laundering, at the detriment of law-abiding individuals, organizations and government.

The LNP Deputy Inspector expressed hope that the training would sharpen the collective skills of the participants to detect, prevent, arrest, and investigate suspected individuals, organizations, and institutions that are linked to terrorist financing.

Inspector Frank further called for robust enforcement of AML/CFT laws to address the rapidly emerging online banking and advent of cryptocurrency, which have created complex delivery channels for criminals to transfer and withdraw money without detection.

He pleaded with participants to pay attention to all details of the training to understand the critical nature of CFT, and to work collaboratively for the strictest enforcement of anti-money laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures.
Meanwhile, the training was a comprehensive package, covering six modules with several cogent topics.

Module:1 – was premised on Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment and Preventing the Abuse of NPO for Terrorist Financing. This module encompassed 1) Overview of Risk Assessment and Risk Assessment on Terrorist Financing (including definition of key concepts of terrorism, counterterrorism, TF, CFT), and 2) Understanding the NPO Sector and Risk Assessment of the NPO Sector.

The second module – Legal and Institutional Requirements for Countering Terrorist Financing – paraded through topics such as )1. Legal and institutional Framework for CFT, 2) Requirements in NPOs Using the FATF Best Practice Papers; and 3) Terrorist Financing Typologies.

Module 3. expatiated on General and Financial Investigation of Terrorist Financing (including the Use of Financial Intelligence from the FIUs). This topic shed light on- 1) Strategies and Techniques for Investigating Terrorist Financing, 2) Roles of FIUs, and the C3 in Terrorist Financing Investigation; and 3) Use of Financial Intelligence in Terrorist Financing Investigation.

In Module 4, presentation was centered around topics regarding Targeted Financial Sanctions for Terrorist Financing. Module 5 drew attention to Prosecution and Adjudication of Terrorist Financing Cases and Assets Recovery. It drilled participants through topics – including 1) Prosecution of Terrorist Financing Cases, 2) Prosecution of Terrorist Financing and Human Rights Issues, and 3) Asset Recovery for Terrorist Financing.

Other areas – such as National, Regional, and International Coordination, Cooperation, and Collaboration – were emphasized under Module 6.
The training was also characterized by a series of group presentations, which made it very interactive. The 5-day event concluded with the awarding of Certificates of Participation to each participant.

Financial crime investigation and AML/CFT Experts – including Dr. Bono Nduka, former Director of Evaluation and Compliance – GIABA, Dr. Muazu Umar, Director of Policy and Research – GIABA, Mr. Peter Jallah, Special Assistant – Office of the Director General of the National Security Agency (NSA), Cllr. Bobby F. W. Livingstone, Director of Financial Crimes Investigation – Ministry of Justice of Liberia; Inspector G. Alvin James, Deputy Commissioner of Police for Criminal Investigation, and By Cllr. Meo D. Beyan – facilitated the training.

Notwithstanding, the identified challenges, Liberia is positioned to combat money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) through the passage of several AML/CFT legal frameworks and regulations. These laws are guided by international AML/CFT standards and regulations. Among these are the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) 40 Recommendations and several United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

Notably, these resolutions include but not limited to UNSCRs 1718 and 2231, which provide for using Targeted Financial Sanctions to “deny designated individuals, groups, organizations, and entities the means to violate international peace and security, support terrorism, or finance the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

Also, FATF Recommendations 5 & 6, inter alia, obligate countries to criminalize terrorist financing and terrorist organizations because of Terrorist Financing Conventions, and to “implement sanction regimes to comply with security Council Resolutions relating to the prevention and suppression of Terrorist financing” – citing Resolutions 1267 (1999) and its successor resolutions, or as “designated by that country pursuant to Resolution 1373 (2001).”

Legal frameworks in Liberia’s AML/CFT landscape include, the Financial Intelligence (FIA) Act of 2021, the Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act of 2021, the Special Criminal Procedures Involving Terrorist Act, the Extortion, Environmental Crime, and Illicit Trafficking in Human Beings and Migrants Smuggling Act of 2012; the Fraud Act of 2012, etc.