By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, Nov. 28, GNA – The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is set to partner with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to combat Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorism Financing (TF).
The partnership aims to create public awareness about the negative consequences of ML and TF in the West African Subregion.
Mr. Tim Melaye, who represented the Director General of GIABA, said through the partnership, GIABA will set up a desk office in GNA and four other media outlets to publicise GIABA’s activities in the fight against TF and ML and routinely train journalists for the task.
This was disclosed when the representatives of GIABA and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) paid a visit to the headquarters of the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
The visit culminates GIABA’s two-day media advocacy and outreach programmes in Ghana.
Mr. Melaye was accompanied by Miss Rhoda Arthur, Deputy Manager FIC, Maxwell Boakye-Agyeman Compliance Officer, and Mr. Osman Nuri Aras.
The GNA team was made up of Mrs. Beatrice Asamani Savage, the Director of Editorial of GNA; Mr. Samuel Osei-Frempong, the News Editor, Mr. Joseph Baffoe, Director of Administration; and Mr. George-Ramsey Benamba, Head of the Home Desk.
“The media remains a veritable channel of increasing awareness among the populace,” he said.
He informed that GIABA had been working and building partnerships with media groups and individual journalists to bring public awareness to the negative effects of money laundering and terrorism financing over the years.
“To achieve this, we have decided to build partnerships with media practitioners by having desk reporters in selected media organisations, “he added.
Mrs Asamani Savage expressed gratitude to GAIBA for selecting GNA as one of the media organisations to partner the Lagos, Nigeria based organization.
She said the menace is a real threat to society, and the agency had been working closely with the Bank of Ghana to create the needed awareness on the issues for public understanding.
“We are dedicated to the cause, and we pledge to work closely with GIABA to disseminate information to the public,” she said.
She expressed the hope that the two institutions would collaborate effectively to educate the public on the African continent about the harmful effects of ML and TF.
Mr. Osei-Frempong said asset declaration was crucial in curtailing ML and TF among public officials.
He said the scrutiny to detect ML and TF must transcend public officials and businessmen and women to include members of the security forces.
GNA