Ghana Police yet to prosecute 473 money laundering cases – FIC
None of the 473 cases of money laundering submitted to the Police by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), from 2009 to date, has been prosecuted, the Chief Executive Officer of the FIC, Mr Samuel Thompson Essel, said.
The money involved in the various money laundering cases amount to $24.9 million, GH¢41.2 million, 4.5 million euros, £133, 895, 37,723 Canadian dollars and 40,000 Australian dollars.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Essel expressed worry about the implications of the inability of the law enforcement agencies to deal with the money laundering cases.
Such a development, Mr Essel said, had the propensity to negatively affect Ghana’s standing or rating by the international community.
The inability of the police to prosecute the money laundering cases means that money launderers who usually get their proceeds through the sale of illicit drugs, human trafficking, terrorism activities, migrant smuggling and sale of human parts will have a field day and be emboldened to expand their activities.
Mr Essel attributed the difficulty in the prosecution of money laundering cases to the lack of human resource, inadequate capacity of police prosecutors and lack of understanding on the part of intelligence agencies and the police prosecutors of the laws governing money laundering.
He said the lack of co-ordination among stakeholders in the fight against money laundering also posed a difficulty to the prosecution of launders.
Explaining why Ghana needed to prosecute money laundering cases, Mr Essel said presenting such cases to the law courts formed part of the requirement to consolidate the efforts so far taken to bring the country out of the woods.
“As a beacon of hope for West Africa, Ghana is one of the few peaceful countries in Africa, and with our oil boom, the international community, especially countries with financial interest, has thrown the searchlight on Ghana to ensure that it does not relapse,” he added.
Source: Daily Graphic