Screws tighten on money laundering

Money launderers be warned. Financial authorities are working on laws that will make it tough for laundered money to be transacted through the country's financial system. The legal framework with regard to money laundering is about to change, central bank governor Tom Alweendo announced this week. Alweendo said during his annual address that this will increase the financial sector’s effectiveness in combating money laundering. The extent of money laundered globally is estimated to be between US$500 billion and US$1 trillion. The National Assembly has already debated and passed the Financial Intelligence Bill which has now been forwarded to the National Council. The bill establishes a Financial Intelligence Centre that will be hosted at the Bank of Namibia. The main responsibility of the centre will be to receive suspicious transaction reports from accountable institutions and supervisory bodies.

“ Such reports will be used to compile intelligence packages that will be disseminated to law enforcement authorities for investigation and possible prosecution,” the governor said. In the process of implementing the laws to combat money laundering, the country also need to be careful not to worsen the situation where many Namibians do not have access to financial services, Alweendo cautioned. “Take for example the requirement that banks must verify the true identities of their prospective customers. In many countries the verification of the identities of prospective customers includes details such as registered residential addresses and proof of payment of services such as water and electricity. While these are good criterion to use, we are well aware that most people do not have access to financial services, are not likely to be in a position to provide such details. We therefore need to show some flexibility in the implementation of the legal framework,” said Alweendo.

The Bank of Namibia is committed to ensure that the integrity of the Namibian financial system is not in any way compromised by money laundering activities, said Alweendo. In the absence of anti-money laundering legislation, the central bank in 1996 issued guidelines, requiring banking institutions to identify and verify particulars of their customers, and to report suspicious transactions.