By: Saidu Jalloh
The Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency, David Borbor, announced in a government weekly press conference organized by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education at the Ministry of Energy Conference Room that Sierra Leone is to host the 42nd Technical Commission and preliminary ministerial committee of intergovernmental action against money laundering in West Africa.
Over 150 delegates from 17 countries will attend the event, which will take place at New Brookfileds Hotel from November 17th to 23rd, 2024.
The Director General of FIA, David Borbor, explained that the conference would exchange ideas and provide a platform for best practices, fostering collaboration and strengthening the regional framework against money laundering and terrorism financing. He noted that plans were being made to review and adopt the second round of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome Principe’s manual evaluation report.
In addressing money laundering, Mr. Borbor revealed that the homegrown assessments conducted by the FIA identified the banking system as the primary risk area for money laundering in Sierra Leone, followed by the mining sector. He stated that to enhance compliance in the mining sector, the FIA and the Nation Mineral Agency [NDMA] are collaborating to boost regulatory measures and mitigate associated risks.
He updated the public on the progress of Super Advertise and My Residual Income Global Scheme, in which he said that My Residual Global Scheme had provided payments to claimants involved in the scam and that the payments were made through a court order. He also explained that the funds used to pay claimants were those frozen by FIA. He also intimated that NLE 3.4 million associated with Super Advertise was currently frozen, pending the proper verification of investors.
Mr. Borbor underscored that money launderers are not coming to help any country; they are coming to clean their money. They are ready to pay whatever it costs them to clean their money, so it is left to any country to maintain its reputation by chasing them out.
He addressed that their work has moved beyond money laundering and terrorism financing and has also included the proliferation of money and people who are also financing the production of weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Borbor also narrated that part of the success of the Commission of Inquiry was the FIA because it provided the commission with a lot of evidence.
He revealed that as an agency, all reporting entities, bureaus, microfinance institutions, and banks had an obligation to send cash transaction reports to the FIA. Any individual who transacted more than NLE 30 million should be reported to the FIA, and any transaction above NLE 100 million from a corporate entity should also be reported to them.
Mr. Borbor also explained that it is out of those reports they would do their finding and be suspicious of some individuals or entities. He highlighted that before banks open an account for any individual, they have to check the individual properly and verify if their money is legal or illegal.
He climaxed that they had a dedicated division that is looking into all reported cash transactions to see whether those figures really make sense to them and whether those figures match the profiles of the individual.