IMF warns corrupt leaders, threatens seizure of loot

From The Guardian
By Mathias Okwe, Abuja

April 25, 2006—AFRICAN leaders who loot their nations' treasuries have been warned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) against the act. The Bretton Woods financial institution said yesterday that money launderers in the continent would no longer find a safe depository haven for their illicit wealth in the West. It promised to go after them and confiscate whatever they have stolen.

The IMF Senior Resident Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Idrissa Thiam, stated this in Abuja in a paper titled: "Addressing the Challenges of Fighting Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism'' at a training workshop organised for key operators of financial institutions and their regulators in West Africa.

Thiam spoke as the minister of health, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, approached the World Bank for the release of the $180 million granted to Nigeria under the bank's Malaria Booster Programme and a relaxation of its draw-down mechanism to enable Nigeria meet her $316 million financing needs for the Roll Back Malaria project in the country this year.

Lambo was a participant at the World Bank Video - Conferencing coordinated from Washington by its Vice President, African Region, Mr. Gobind Nankani. He listed the population of Nigeria as the greatest challenge against the anti-malaria crusade as vaccines and treated bed nets were in short supply.

Thiam, who emphasised the need for judicious use of public funds for the betterment of the citizenry, decried the sleaze perpetrated by a few. He said his organisation had made the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing a priority.

"The IMF is contributing to the international effort in several important ways, consistent with its core areas of competence. As a collaborative institution with near universal membership, the IMF is a natural forum for sharing information, developing common approaches to issues, and promoting desirable policies and standards-all of which are critical in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

"In addition, the IMF's broad experience in conducting financial sector assessments, providing technical assistance in the financial sector, and exercising surveillance over members' economic systems is particularly helpful in evaluating countries compliance with the international Anti- Money Laundry (AML)/ Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) standards and in developing programmes to help them address identified shortcomings,'' he said.

The IMF chief also stated that since global efforts to combat AML/CFT began in the early 1990s, there had been many successful initiatives by the international community, pointing out that money laundering is now criminalised in almost all countries.

Thiam continued: "Banks and financial institutions are better protected against penetration by criminal organisations. A network of financial intelligence units is in place to provide a rapid response to criminal money transfers. And confiscation of large sums of illicit money is now routine.''

The IMF and the World Bank, in collaboration with other donors, he pointed out, had intensified the delivery of their technical assistance to respond to member-countries' needs. He stated that since January 2002, the IMF and the World Bank have delivered over 300 technical assistance projects, almost two-thirds of them in the last 18 months. Nearly 1,000 officials from 111 countries have been trained on the scheme.

He regretted that despite substantial progress made by the bank, the crime had not abated. "The history of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism has illustrated that the bad guys are quick to engage in criminal arbitrage. Money launderers will exploit any weakness in legislative and institutional frameworks, both domestic and international. They will take advantage of any failure of international co-operation, and particularly in informal, unregulated and unsupervised sectors. Loopholes will be found wherever they exist.''

Thiam said the IMF and the World Bank would continue their intensive work on AML/CFT assessments of members' AML/CFT regimes, technical assistance delivery, and broader regulatory and economic policy issues.