Africa-Press – Botswana. Due to their borderless nature of illicit financial activities and the fact that they even affect the developed countries, the fight against them requires both national and international cooperation.
This was said by the Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame at a gala dinner to mark the Financial Intelligence Agency’s decade of existence in Gaborone on Friday.
Ms Serame said Botswana had established cooperation platforms both regionally and internationally to ensure such challenges were dealt with.
“These include our membership to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) through the Eastern and Southern African Anti-money Laundering group, and even memoranda of understanding with individual countries,” she said.
She said locally, FIA had an agreement with other law enforcement agencies to exchange information so to enhance reporting and compliance.
She said Botswana continued to be committed to all the international standards and regulatory frameworks that governed all international partnerships she had entered into.
“We also continue to improve our legal and regulatory frameworks in response to the required standards and today we have complied with 33 of the 40 FATF recommendations, compared to only two in 2017.
She also said the country was in consultation with stakeholders to ammend the relevant laws before submitting for re-rating request prior to another round of evaluations due in 2027.
She also noted that counter financing of terrorism and counter proliferation financing regime remained central to the overall performance of both the local and global economies.
“Effectively dealing with these two is essential to achieving the aspirations of Vision 2036,” she said.
Ms Serame said the gala dinner was an opportunity for the agency to introspect and take lessons from experience into the future in order to advance a common cause.
She said the public was also an equally important partner in fighting challenges such as money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing.
For her part, Permanent Secretary to the President, who is also the chairperson of the National Coordinating Committee on Financial Intelligence (NCCFI), Ms Emmah Peloetletse appreciated public awareness activities such as community sensitisations and workshops, saying such platforms were where capacity was built.
“This will help in ensuring a stronger, robust and effective Combating Financial Terrorism (CTF) national regime,” she said.
She said with hindsight, going back to grey listing was not an option for Botswana, hence the need to be thorough with all international requirements and compliance.
Ms Peloetletse also appreciated the past leaders of FIA for laying the foundation for the organisation and urged the current leaders to play their part, assuring them of government’s support.
She also appreciated Ms Serame for her leadership and assistance in helping build an Anti-Money Laundering-CFT regime within a short time following Botswana’s removal from grey listing.
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