Nigeria Paid ‘Large Ransom’ To Boko Haram To Free Dapchi Girls, Says UN

Dapchi School girls

Despite repeated denials by the Nigerian government, the United Nations has said that a splinter Boko Haram group that kidnapped the Dapchi girls in February was paid a “large ransom”.

GIABA To Appraise Nigeria For Terrorism Financing, Money Laundering

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) on Friday announced plans for Nigeria to be evaluated for money laundering and terrorism financing in 2017. GIABA is a specialised institution of ECOWAS that is responsible for strengthening the capacity of member states toward prevention and control of money laundering and terrorism financing in the region.

  

The GIABA Representative in Nigeria, Mr Timothy Melaye,made the disclosure when he paid an advocacy visit to the Lagos office of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). 

  

Melaye said the visit was to forge possible collaboration between GIABA and NAPTIP, especially in building capacity of the agency’s personnel ahead of next year’s Mutual Evaluation of Nigeria. “The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent inter-governmental global body, has concluded plans to carry out a Mutual Evaluation on money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria in 2017. “Mutual Evaluation is a Peer Review Mechanism whereby countries are rated on all issues that borders on money laundering and terrorism financing. “We are currently on advocacy visits to the relevant agencies so that Nigeria should prepare to avoid being blacklisted again as a country with high risk of money laundering and terrorism financing,’’ he said. The representative said that it was imperative for NAPTIP and other relevant agencies to redouble their efforts in fighting trafficking in persons and other related crimes.

Melaye assured NAPTIP of his organisation’s readiness to work with it in making sure that next year’s Mutual Evaluation on Nigeria would be encouraging to FATF. He also said that GIABA would henceforth include NAPTIP in its capacity building programmes within and outside the country. The NAPTIP’s Lagos office Zonal Commander, Mr Joseph Famakin, who commended the representative for the visit, said that the collaboration was a welcome development.

Famakin, however, urged GIABA not to restrict the advocacy visit to NAPTIP’s Lagos office but to also visit its Headquarters in Abuja. He said that his organisation had come up with new laws aimed at enhancing the organisation’s responsibilities as well as expanding its operations to financial investigations. “NAPTIP currently has enough instruments for not just to bark but bite. “We strongly believe that there are so many things that this agency and GIABA can do together to ensure that Nigeria’s ratings becomes encouraging next year,’’ he said.

Culled from: Vanguard Newspaper

EU Set To Probe €500 Notes’ Links to Terrorism

The €500 note, beloved by gangsters and Greek savers, is now being investigated for ties to terrorism.

Australian Intelligence Reports Spike in "Terrorism" Funding Cases

Australia's anti-money laundering agency says reports of suspected "terrorism-financing" tripled in the past year, with over 50 million Australian dollars ($35.92 million) which could be used to support Islamist militants being investigated.

Fact check: Does Halal Certification Fund Terrorism?

Companies that get products halal certified have been targets of a campaign that claims halal certification funds terrorism.

British Woman Jailed for Trying to Fund Terrorism

Amal El-Wahabi arrives at The Old Bailey in London, on Aug. 13. El-Wahabi is the first person in the U.K. found guilty of funding Syrian terrorism. Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A woman has been jailed in Britain after being convicted of trying to send cash to her jihadi husband fighting in Syria.

British Government Probes Nigeria's Opposition Party- APC’s Alleged Link with Boko Haram

Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) may have come under the spotlight of the British government over allegations that it has links with the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist group. Feelers from the British parliament gave this indication at the weekend.

Reports had it that the United Kingdom (UK)’s Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (otherwise known as foreign secretary), Mr William Hague, was, last week, questioned by an influential member of the British parliament, Mr Andrew Rosindell, on the UK’s engagement with the APC over the Boko Haram problem confronting Nigeria.

Information pieced together by Sunday Tribune from the website of the British parliament, www.parliament.uk, indicated that Rosindell, a conservative representing Romford, listed numerous questions regarding terrorism in Nigeria and some other affected countries of the Commonwealth for the foreign sectary, under “notices for written answers” section of the House of Commons Business Paper.

Some of the questions Rosindell, who is also a member of Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, want Hague to answer, according to the Business Paper, are: “To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the rise of Islamic terrorism in Northern Iraq. 

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the rise in Islamic terrorism in Nigeria. (204387)

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department plans to offer to Nigeria in tackling the threat of Boko Haram. 

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of links between Boko Haram and other Islamic extremist groups in Africa.

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will discuss with his counterpart in Cameroon the need for constructive dialogue between that country and Nigeria in tackling Boko Haram; and if he will make a statement.

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on tackling the threat from Islamic extremism in Northern Africa.

“To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have had with leading members of the Nigerian opposition party, the All Progressives Congress; and if he will make a statement.

“ To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will commission an inquiry into the international support network for Boko Haram in Nigeria and Cameroon; and if he will make a statement.”

Reports added that the development came after a debate in the parliament in which a Labour member, Sandra Osborne asked the House to examine allegations of links between APC and the insurgents.

It was also noted that increasing questioning of the government of the UK by legislators over the issue may force an enquiry into the allegations.

Sunday Tribune also learnt that at a recent meeting of the parliamentarians, led by Henry Jackson Society and chaired by John Glen, who is a close adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, similar allegations were raised that key APC members were supporters and financiers of Boko Haram “for ideological and political means.”

The UK is now said to be showing more interest in the Boko Haram menace, especially after the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in April.

Hague, at an international summit on rape in warzones held in London in June, was said to have reaffirmed the UK’s “strong and united commitment to defeat Boko Haram and to end the scourge of terrorism in Nigeria.”

When Sunday Tribune contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for reaction, he said the party was still studying the development, adding that it would react to the allegations appropriately in due course.

Courtesy:
Tribune Newspaper

Fallout of BNP Paribas' Guilty Plea and Fine, United States Justice Dept May Probe Nigerian Banks over Terror Funding

THE United States (U.S.) Justice Department has put some Nigerian banks under the searchlight in the wake of growing terrorism in the country.

Specifically, the banks are being investigated to establish their links, if any, with funding of the various terror cells across the continent, particularly Boko Haram.

The development was sequel to BNP Paribas’ guilty plea and agreement to pay nearly $9 billion for violating U.S. sanctions, which has now triggered fresh enthusiasm on the U.S. Justice Department to also extend its investigations to Africa, especially among big banks on the continent with strong international links.

  Two other major French banks- Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, and Citigroup Inc’s Banamex unit in Mexico are among those being investigated for possible money laundering or sanctions violations, according to reliable industry sources.

  The Justice Department and other U.S. authorities, including the Manhattan District Attorney, are probing Credit Agricole and Societe Generale for potentially violating U.S. economic sanctions imposed against Iran, Cuba and Sudan, one of the sources said.

  Specifically, in the case of Nigeria, there had been widespread suspicion that a few banks in the country may have compromised in helping to move funds for members of the Boko Haram sect.

  There were fears recently that Nigeria may be blacklisted by international anti-money laundering watchdogs based in the U.S., over its inability to track the source of funds of the Boko Haram sect and curb terrorism financing in general.

  Signals from Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setter for measures to combat money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing, indicated that despite the earlier warnings to Nigeria on its non-compliance level, the country is yet to take any concrete step to stem the rising spate of financial crimes including terrorism financing, money laundering and corruption.

  In its recent report, dated February 11, 2014, the FATF listed Nigeria among the countries that have not made significant progress in addressing the lacunas in their Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) regimes. The agency advised the international financial community on the potential risks in the country.

  Recent events, especially the activities of Boko Haram and startling revelations from various probes by the National Assembly, are putting Nigeria under global focus and scrutiny.

  It will be recalled that on June 23, 2006, FATF decided to remove Nigeria from its list of Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCTs).   Since July 2001, Nigeria has been on this shame list. The cost to the economy is incalculable: inflow/outflow of transactions to Nigeria has around it a cautionary flag to the rest of the world and numerous Nigerians operating outside the country have had their financial dealings cancelled/ monitored.

  Similarly, Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), in its 2011 yearly report, clearly showed that the sources of money laundering, corruption, tax fraud, narcotics, trafficking and capital market related crimes were identified as the major challenges facing Nigeria.

  The data from GIABA, an institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) responsible for facilitating the adoption and implementation of AML/CFT in West Africa, stated that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seized 195, 283, 917 kilogrammes of various types of illicit drugs, mostly cannabis valued at over N140 million. The country also generated 8,725, 213 Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), 2,031 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and 83 confirmed cases of money laundering in the reviewed period.

Source, full article:
Guardian Newspaper