act, 2004 ( act 663 ), internal audit agency act, 2004 ( act 658 ) and the financial administration act. to reinforce these moves in order to mitigate the incidence of fraud of all sorts, other bills which contain clauses touching on financial fraud are at various stages of becoming law. the key ones are : anti - money laundering bill, electronic transaction bill, computer misuse bill ( to support electronic banking ) and credit reporting bill. mr. chairman, apart from the bog ’ s collaboration with government in facilitating financial law - making the bog has over the years initiated a number of financial fraud interventions that should be of interest to this forum. there exists a fruitful collaboration between the bog and the law enforcement agencies in financial crime prevention and prosecution. similarly, the banks in ghana have shown invaluable understanding and co - operation with the bog in enforcing the know your customer policy guidelines, in order to weed out suspicious characters from the banking system. above all, the bog ’ s in - house investigation and consumer reporting office handles public complaints that touch on various matters including alleged financial frauds. i should hasten to add that the bog co - operates with international financial institutions in fighting the cross - boarder aspects of financial fraud. mr. chairman, i am convinced that the most critical tool that can be used to combat financial fraud in our environment is collaboration within constitutional and statutory bounds among all the institutions of the state that have a part to play in the detection, investigation and prosecution of financial frauds in every aspect of our national lives. in the sphere of banking, you would agree with me that the supervisor is the frontline investigator, which solely or in co - operation with the directors of banks complain to the police or serious fraud office for further action, where necessary. by this approach, the letter and spirit of the constitution which created all the investigators will be upheld. mr. chairman, i wish to end on the note that financial fraud has always been and will continue to be a topical issue in the financial world. while i urge investigators to continuously review their investigative procedures to cope with the level of sophistication associated with present - day financial fraud, i recommend that the courts be made part of such seminars in order for us all to benefit from the interdisciplinary discussions that take place. the speedy delivery of justice and decisions of the courts are critical to our effectiveness in combating fraud. i thank you for your attention.

the pursuit of excellence especially in education, as a vehicle of development in sierra leone. the successes we have scored so far in this area will not have been possible without the support and contribution we have received from the board of trustees of this charity. on behalf of the board of directors, management and staff of the bank of sierra leone, i will like to thank them for their dedication and hard work. within a short period of time the board of trustees comprising six members have worked tirelessly and assiduously to actualise the objectives of the bank, and in the process attract the attention and admiration of the public. as a result, the charity has started receiving contributions from individual members of the international community. i therefore want to take the opportunity to single out the laudable gesture of mr paul wilson and mr glyn williams of de la rue in england who in their personal capacities donated generously towards the trust. as recent as this morning, the trust has received contribution from mrs sheila lee, mother of mr tom lee. their initiative is worthy of commendation. i therefore wish to thank them profusely through mr tom lee who also is a member of the de la rue family and who has been an effective ambassador of the trust, for their humanitarian gesture. this i believe should serve as an inspiration for our local collaborators to follow suit. distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, at this point i particularly want to recognise the contributions of dr s b nicol - cole who was the first chairman of the board of trustees, and who only took leave of us last year. his contributions during the very critical teething period for the trust was truly valued and we want to thank him for his services and wish him well in all his future endeavours. let me also recognise the pioneering efforts of dr j d rogers, erstwhile governor of the bank, who recently retired from the services of the bank of sierra leone. i want to assure him that his efforts in this area will not go in vein. in that same vein, i want also to congratulate prof. aiah a gbakima, the new chairman of the board of trustees, who was elected chairman by his colleague members of the board, after acting in the capacity for one year. i have no doubt that with professor gbakima ’ s drive and commitment, the charity will continue to grow from strength to strength. i will be remiss in my duty, if i did not recognise also our development partners who have made valuable