FRAMEWORK OF ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING AND COMBATING OF...

FRAMEWORK OF ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING AND COMBATING OF FINANCIAL TERRORISM IN THE ECOWAS REGION By Oladeji Ifeoluwa Temiloluï€ ª 1.0 Introduction Money laundering as a form of cross border crime involves the use of legal tender in a financial transaction in order to conceal the origin, source or destination of such legal tender derived through illegal means. The sole aim of every money launderer is to misrepresent to any law enforcement authority or agency that the source of the funds are clean. As such it would be a difficult task for any enforcement authority to trace the source of the funds and by so doing the money launderers are able to escape prosecution or conviction. The term money laundering has its origin grounded in the Mafia†¦show more content†¦2.0 CONCEPTUAL CLASSIFICATION The porosity of the borders of most ECOWAS countries has led to the mammoth rise in the rate of cross border crimes, ranging from drug trafficking, human trafficking, tax evasion to money laundering. This rise has not only expanded, but has multiplied these crimes to a more sophisticated type with a crippling effect on the local economy and international relations of these countries. These increase can be linked to the ready ease with which humans and goods could travel between these ECOWAS countries, whilst the developments in technology has further facilitated the transfer of the proceeds from such criminal activities in ways hitherto unknown, this led to the swift rate at which money laundering amongst these countries developed5. Other economic and financial crimes, for example, drug trafficking and human trafficking also grew in limps and bounds, thus contributing to the growth in the incidence of money laundering and financial terrorism. By reason of the fact that the global agenda to curb financial crimes calls for cooperative approach among countries in addressing these challenges, introducing a number of international legislations on money laundering and financial terrorism became a necessity. The treaties includes; the United Nation’s Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism