By: Saidu Jalloh
The Deputy Minister of Justice, Alpha Sesay, highlighted the government’s commitment to combating money laundering, human trafficking, and terrorism financing in a weekly press conference at the Ministry of Energy Conference Room on Tuesday, November 12th, 2024.
Sesay opined that the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice played a key role on the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) board, contributing to policy development in areas worthy.
He also addressed that the ministry had partnered with Sierra Leone to support investigations and enforce relevant laws. ‘’Legal support from the Attorney General’s office has been instrumental in prosecuting crimes associated with money laundering and trafficking,’’ Sesay added.
The Deputy Minister of Justice continued that they are also working with other stakeholders to reform the police to make it more responsive to emerging issues in the country. They are discussing reform in transnational crimes and also working with other people across the border to see that those crimes are halted.
Sesay also spoke about accountability. He said they need to work with those at the borders, and when an investigation takes place, it is the FIA and the Police and they would provide legal advice.
When speaking about money laundering, Mr. Sesay said that they deal with it differently than with any other case because it is a technical offense that requires expertise across the chain. He explained that they had charged a matter to the court that involved trafficking persons and that Sierra Leone is one of the countries that has taken a stand on those crimes.
He highlighted that the government is very serious about fighting those crimes as they know how they have affected people and their livelihoods and that, most often, the people affected by those crimes were people who were struggling to make ends meet.
He narrated that Forex Trading is legal and regularized by the Bank of Sierra Leone, but some aspects of it would be illegal if they worked outside the ambit of the law.
He underscored that, as per law, there was no specific threshold. However, financial institutions have an obligation by law to report transactions to the Financial Intelligence Agency. If there are multiple transactions in a day, it is easy to flag them as suspicious activities, and the FIA would bring them to their attention. If they meet their threshold, they would charge it to court.
He announced that they stated that if any individual is traveling with the sum of $10,000, that person should declare that money. He also revealed that those who are trading in dollars in the street are doing illegal business and are not registered as financial institutions.