Biya creates body to fight money laundering, terrorism financing….

The decree creating the committee that is placed under the authority of the Minister of Finance, was signed Monday October 30. 

The committee, the decree specified, has as mandate, to formulate and coordinate the implementation of policies and activities aimed at combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

The committee, the decree added, shall assist government, economic, social, financial, non-financial and monetary actors as well as the population in combatting the aforementioned crimes as well as sensitising them on the need for such as action in the country.

Also, the committee, whose activities are under the authority of Minister Louis Paul Motaze, shall also propose measures likely to facilitate the implementation by Cameroon, of decisions adopted by regional and international bodies engaged in combating terrorism financing, money laundering and related crimes. 

The decree noted that the committee will play a supportive role to the National Agency for Financial Investigation, ANIF, make proposals for drafting of appropriate regulations, conduct risk assessment and formulate national strategy, ensure better coordination of government services; all of these geared towards combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.

More so, the new structure, President Biya prescribed in the decree, is also mandated to “contribute to the promotion of dialogue between government and development partners to secure their technical and financial support for the implementation of policies to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”.

The committee has 22 members, representing the Presidency, Prime Minister’s Office, government ministries and other state institutions, including the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC; National Agency for Information and Communication Technology, ANTIC.

Some of the private bodies included in the committee are; Professional Association of Credit Institutions, Association of Insurance Companies, Cameroon Bar Association, National Chamber of Notaries as well as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Cameroon.

Article 4 (1) of the decree states that: “The Committee shall meet when convened by its Chairperson in Ordinary Session, once every six months and in Extraordinary Session and when necessary”.

The creation of the committee comes five months after the global inter-governmental body, Financial Action Task Force against Money Laundering, FATF, released a report, stating that Cameroon was among countries not doing enough to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. 

State authorities had in 2021 stated that the risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism was high in the country. 

The disturbing observation was made during a workshop to restitute the Report of Cameroon Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

Officials had said sectors more exposed to money laundering are banking, security market, insurance, microfinance, money transfer companies, money exchange casinos, real estate, precious meters and car dealing. 

On financing of terrorism, the report had stated the risk is high because of terrorist acts recorded in parts of the country.