mohamed s fofana : tackling money laundering in sierra leone statement by mr mohamed s fofana, deputy governor of the bank of sierra leone, at the official opening of the unodc / giaba / bsl training workshop on aml / cft strategy development, freetown, 10 - 13 july 2006. * * * distinguished administrative secretary of giaba, fellow stakeholders, the board and management of the bank of sierra leone, participants, distinguished ladies & gentlemen let me on behalf of the governor, management and staff of the bank of sierra leone welcome you all, especially those of you coming to sierra leone for the first time for this very important training workshop. may i also take this opportunity to congratulate you, mr. administrative secretary of giaba, on your recent appointment. i believe that your appointment is to underscore the fact that african problems require african solution. i also want to particularly welcome the facilitators from the unodc and giaba and proffer our gratitude to them for facilitating this workshop and for heeding to our call for help in the establishment of a financial intelligence unit ( fiu ). in the past, emphasis has been placed on the drugs trade as the principal source of cash that is laundered. we now know that other activities such as terrorism, tax evasion, arms trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking and advance fee fraud ( aka 419 ) are veritable fountains of cash for money laundering. in the west africa sub - region, the principal sources of money laundering are from the illegal exploitation of natural resources especially in mining, and to a large extent the proceeds from corruption. concern over money laundering is growing because of its perverse effects on the socioeconomic environment and its close links with organized crime. armed with the immense financial resources at their disposal, money launderers can compromise persons and institutions to acquire economic, social and political power. the ten - year rebel war that officially ended in 2002 sadly illustrates the threat and problem that money laundering poses to emerging economies like sierra leone ’ s. the afrc and ruf using a network of criminal gun running organizations to finance their activities completely destabilized our nation politically, socially and economically. diamonds obtained by forced labour from the nation ’ s diamond fields ( blood diamonds ) played a significant role in fuelling the rebel war. although the war ended in 2002, the environment wherein criminals can launder their ill - gotten fortunes still prevails today because sierra leone is

am glad to inform you that the present administration has moved consistently and decisively to up - scale general economic and financial data quality by strengthening data information flows both in bosl and mof and at the central office of statistics. these efforts have also included working closely with waifem and its technical partners to streamlining the back office functions of the mof ; and enhancing institutional capacity building efforts. government will continue to keep these measures under constant review, because the process of achieving effective debt management is not like a sprint race, but rather, could be likened to a marathon involving medium to long - term policy thrusts and interventions. ladies and gentlemen, over the past couple of minutes, i have attempted to sensitize you on some of the issues that would be dealt with in detail during this course. even so, i make no pretensions to any exhaustive analysis. i am aware that the expert faculty assembled by the organizers will do just that. all that is left for me to do is to invite you to take maximum advantage of the opportunity presented by this course to strengthen your competencies in debt data compilation in line with best practices. 4. 0 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, i would be remiss in my duty if i ended this address without expressing the profound appreciation of the board of governors of waifem to comsec, imf, and world bank for their support to waifem in strengthening capacity of countries of its member central banks in the area of debt management capacity building. before i take leave of you to commence the technical sessions, let me enjoin you to take some time off your crowded schedule to visit some of the tourist attractions in freetown, and its environs. the governors look forward toward greater collaboration between waifem and these institutions in the years ahead. on this note i have the honour to declare the course open. i thank you for your attention.