Guinea adopts measures to fight against money laundering, terrorism funding

The Guinea government on Thursday decided to operationalize the National Financial Processing Unit (CENTIF) to enhance the fight against money laundering and funding of terrorism, an official source said.

The decision was taken in accordance with recommendations of the West African Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering (GIABA), in which Guinea is a member.

The decision followed a proposal by the Central Bank governor Lounceny Nabe on the fight against money laundering and funding of terrorism in Guinea, made before Thursday's cabinet meeting that was chaired by President Alpha Conde.

In his communication, the governor recalled that the complexity of money laundering "made it difficult to evaluate the negative consequences of crime on the economy and the society in general."

Guinea has adopted tools for fighting against money laundering through the anti-money laundering law, the law on funding of terrorism and the setting up of CENTIF, but nothing seems to have progressed in terms of execution.

Guinea was urged by its partners "to urgently take measures to improve its system for fighting against money laundering and funding of terrorism."

This could only be achieved by making CENTIF operational.

The country is also expected to "criminalize illegal trafficking of migrants, enslavement of people, fight against counterfeits, manipulation of tenders and cyber-crime." Endit