Sub-Saharan Africa worst affected by illicit cash flows

Mojanku Gumbi, advisor to former South African president Thabo Mbeki, said about 90 billion U.S dollars may be illegally taken out of Africa every year.

Gumbi argued the value represented almost 1.5 times of what the continent received in foreign direct investment every year.

The capital flight is in forms of the proceeds of crime, tax evasion and corruption, said Gumbi, who revealed this ahead of the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly that opens Monday.

"The fraudulent misinvoicing of trade transactions was revealed to be the largest component of illicit financial flows from developing countries, accounting for 83.4 percent," Gumbi said, adding the Sub-Saharan Africa region is the worst affected around the world by illicit cash flows.

To solve this problem, Gumbi proposed the adoption of the anti-money laundering as recommended by the Financial Action Task Force.

Gumbi also said information about ownership should be made available to the public and that banks verify the authenticity of all account holders. Endit