By Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye
Manager, Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Information Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, Timothy Melaye, in this interview on the sidelines of the just concluded three-day Regional Training Workshop for Journalists on Investigating Economic and Financial Crimes in West African countries in Assinie, Côte d’Ivoire, spoke on what Nigeria and others facing terrorism can cripple the operations and why investigative journalism is critical to curb illicit financial flow on the subregion.
What’s GIABA doing to help curb illicit financial flow (IFF) within the sub region?
The concept of illicit financial flows is principally the movement of cash, most often from illicit sources in one jurisdiction to the other. The irony of illicit financial flow is that the flow is from developing countries to developed countries and is a big area of concern. I was asked once at Cambridge University, if this fund is flowing from, let’s say, UK to Nigeria or America to Ghana, I’m sure it would have stopped. So, it is not only the responsibility of West African countries, African countries or developing countries to curb illicit financial flow, it is the responsibility of the world at large. Those receiving countries are as corrupt as the countries where this money is coming from. They should also take responsibility and ensure that illicit finance does not come to the jurisdictions as well.
So, for illicit financial flow, what we are doing is this, ensuring that countries adopt and implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and the United Nations Security Council resolutions, that deal with issues that are related around illicit financial flow, reduce corruption, so that there will be no funds to be moved, reduce drug trafficking, drastically reduce human trafficking, smuggling including arms trafficking, and therefore you find out that the resources to actually move will no longer exist.
So internally, we’re working with member states to ensure that they reduce these predicate offenses in their countries. But beyond that, GIABA has also provided what we call currency scanners for airports. We have noticed that some countries are not using those scanners. Whether it’s deliberate or not, it is one of the findings that we’re carrying out. But GIABA is doing everything possible to ensure that through airports, through the border posts, we reduce movement of cash, and the scanners are supposed to help to discover currencies when they are moved through the airports.
So, what’s Nigeria’s chances of getting membership of FATF in the light of the positive outcome of its follow up report?
Nigeria’s Mutual Evaluation report was published. Like many other countries, Nigeria is under observation at the moment, after the observation, it is going through what we refer to as the ICLG process, which is the International Cooperation Review Group, and this is kind of evidence that the country did not do well. This review group is to help them to address the substantial gaps that are in the system. The earliest the country addressed those gaps, the better the chances for them to continue the process of membership of the FATF.
Nigeria has moved forward, there was supposed to be an on site visit to Nigeria by the FATF, initially. But at the time, it was the time that Abuja airport was closed. And they said they have to travel through Kaduna. And they were not comfortable. So that visit was never held, following the outcome of the Mutual Evaluation of Nigeria. It is expected that the country will address some of those gaps before we begin to look at the possibility of continuation of their membership of the FATF. At the moment, only South Africa in Africa is a member of FATF. In the whole of West Africa, we don’t have any members. So Nigerian membership is important but Nigeria needs to address a lot of the gaps that exist within the system.
Why is the training of Journalists important in the fight against financial crime, illicit financial flow and money laundering?
Journalists are an essential part of the fight against economic financial crime. One of the major strengths of journalism is awareness and agenda setting. If you put something on the front burner, whatever ideas you want to push as journalists, it’s easy for them to set an agenda of discussion. So by doing so, you are creating awareness, setting up an agenda, investigating issues and bringing them on board; it helps to shape society. We have seen in countries where journalists have done quite well; in Ghana, in Nigeria, some parts of other West African countries like Senegal, where they have identified specific issues.
I remember one of our trainees, who attended this investigative journalism. His name is Jaffa Jaffa, a journalist in Nigeria, who was able to identify a case of a governor of a state who allegedly was receiving bribes. The state assembly had to even call him to come and provide evidence. So the issue of course, came into the front burner, it became a discussion and these are the kinds of issues we are talking about. We also had Premium Times at the time, who brought out the issue of a Minister of Finance in Nigeria who had no requirements, youth service certificate. So, these are some of the kinds of activities we find in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, in Cote d’Ivoire that helped to create awareness.
That doesn’t mean that journalists are not confronted with challenges. One of the key areas to address the challenges is for them to work within networks, cover identity when need be and release truths at all times. And that will help us to curb illicit financial flow because if they know, there is no hiding place… Secrecy is a foundation for continuation of perpetration of evil. As far as we can expose, bring to limelight, then we’re directly and indirectly curbing the continuation of illicit activities, financial crimes, particularly issues of corruption within the public space.
In one breath, you admit that there are challenges in investigative journalism but you also say that it’s not for everybody that should be an investigative journalist. And that if you can’t take the heat, you should leave the kitchen. Can you elaborate what you meant by that?
Usually, if you choose to be a journalist, you could choose to work within any of the arms of journalism; you could just be a broadcaster. You could be a narrative or even a cartoonist. So, if you choose to be an investigative journalist, it is a specific field that requires a lot of courage, some resources, and it comes with its own risks. So it’s like someone who is a firefighter. A firefighter knows that the job is risky but this is what he intends to do. Civil society, human rights activists know that when we come against those who oppress others, there is a tendency for them to come against us. So there are risks attached to it. So when you choose to be an investigative journalist, the equipment required, the courage required, the skills required are quite essential for you to succeed. There’s a saying that you can’t be in water and complain of cold. If you’re inside water, why are you complaining that it is cold? So it is with an investigative journalist. You cannot say my job is risky because a firefighter cannot say my job is risky. Yes the job is risky, but that’s your job. So you caution yourself on how to protect yourself, how to increase your skills and how to work discreetly to deliver your mandate. That’s why I said that if you choose to be an investigative journalist, you must first build the mind and the courage. You must know that when you are in the kitchen, the tendency for you to be hot is high. Except you don’t want to make the food, you’ll probably have to get out of the kitchen.
What’s GIABA’s update in the effort to help Nigeria fight terrorism?
GIABA is committed to all member states of ECOWAS in fighting terrorism, specifically countries that have prevalence at the moment, countries like Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and recently, we’ve seen trends in Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin. What we are doing to support each of the member states, we have what we call within the ECOWAS system early warning signals, those early warning signals are activated and help to share information in light of the consistent attack we have seen in recent times. We’ll also say that it is impossible for fish to survive outside water. It is impossible for these terrorists to continue to thrive and work without resources. So, funding is very essential to the fight against terror. And one of the things we are doing is to help and work with the financial intelligence units, work with other experts on a global level to identify sources of finance. We have done two principal reports on terrorist financing in West Africa. This gives very important information to the law enforcement agencies in the countries to identify the pattern, the trend, the ways of moving cash, including cross border movement of cash. And this information is made available to the law enforcement agencies in those countries, so that they can help curb illicit financial flow. All you need to kill a fish is to take it out of water into a dry land, and the fish will naturally die; take the resources away from the terrorists, and they can no longer operate, they will be crippled. And that is one of the patterns and ways with which GIABA is helping the member states to fight terrorist financing thereby ending terrorism in the region.
Aside from organizing workshops like this, is there a way GIABA can support journalists on the field carrying out investigations ?
In addition to capacity building, in terms of physical trainings like this, like I’ve said, in the training, we have established a network, the network is a kind of backup, support, protection and all of that; aside from that also, if you need technical knowledge, you’re on the field, you get stuck, you can always get back to us. That’s why we’re sharing our contacts so that sometimes we have the technical expertise in house to provide support for you. And sometimes, we have the professional network of contacts, to also provide the kind of support you need. Sometimes, my support might not necessarily be training, it might not necessarily be cash, it might be equipment, it might be techniques that will be provided by other experts within the global network. For instance, if you use a camera in carrying out your investigation, you will be breaking the law of privacy, then we’ll provide other kinds of advice or professional guidance on how to get information without putting yourself on the line or in trouble.
One problem affecting the successful fight against ML/TF is the lack of cooperation among relevant agencies in many ECOWAS member countries. Is GIABA doing anything to foster cooperation among these sub units?
Part of our key responsibilities is to ensure that member states work together. So one of the things we are doing is during plenaries, we create opportunities for countries that share borders. Let’s assume now we’ll take Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and say you people share certain kinds of proximity; you need to sign what we refer to as Mutual Legal Assistance.
So within their laws and operations, they activate it and this mutual legal assistance help them to provide support, protection, joint military operations, information sharing, intelligence sharing, and stuff like that. So, mutual legal assistance is the content that we encourage and so many countries within the GIABA operations have signed this kind of agreement and MOU to share information. So, if somebody moves money, or move arms through the border, from Côte d’Ivoire to Accra, all from Benin Republic through Seme border to Nigeria, those kinds of joint legal assistance will be able to help to curb that and ensure that criminality is reduced among member states.
We are aware Nigeria is helping some countries such as Sierra Leone, Gambia and others to gain membership of the Egmont group. Is GIABA satisfied with the process so far?
Nigeria, as a country, including Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, has been a very strong pillar for the region. Nigerian FIU have mentored many other FIUs in the region. They have provided support, they’ve also sponsored the membership of Egmont to other FIUs in the region.
At the moment, Nigeria is mentoring a few other countries. And that role of leadership that Nigeria is playing is commended by GIABA, ECOWAS and the global community. And we wish and encourage the country to continue to provide his leadership role in the fight against money laundering, and terrorist financing region. We thank the country, the leadership, and we look forward to their support continuously.