Deputy Minister of Finance II, Isata Marah, has called for stronger national coordination in the fight against illicit financial flows as she opened a three-day stakeholder engagement on Sierra Leone’s proposed consolidated Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) database.
The engagement, organised by the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) in partnership with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), is being held at the Radisson Blu Hotel under the theme “From Fragmented Information to Coordinated Intelligence.”
Speaking at the opening, Marah said Africa loses an estimated US$88.6 billion annually to illicit financial flows, warning that money laundering undermines development by diverting resources that could otherwise support schools, healthcare facilities and infrastructure.
She noted that although various institutions in Sierra Leone already maintain vital financial records, the information remains fragmented across separate systems. She said the proposed database would help institutions identify financial risks earlier, improve information-sharing and facilitate faster, coordinated responses.
Marah also stressed the importance of safeguards to ensure the database operates effectively and responsibly. These include lawful access to information, security by design, audit trails, data quality and respect for individual rights.
She cautioned that technology alone would not guarantee compliance, emphasising the need for effective governance, skilled personnel and sustainable financing to ensure the database achieves its intended objectives.
Describing the initiative as both a security and economic priority, Marah said financial integrity was essential to improving domestic revenue mobilisation, strengthening investor confidence and maintaining macroeconomic stability.
She urged stakeholders to use the three-day engagement to agree on a common vision, governance framework, technical standards, data protection measures, capacity-building arrangements, financing strategy and monitoring framework for the proposed database.
Marah formally declared the engagement open and commended the FIA and GIABA for bringing stakeholders together. She called on participating institutions to turn fragmented information into actionable intelligence and strengthen coordination in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Sierra Leone.