Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, Minister of Economy and Finance of Congo-Brazzaville and current President of the Action Group against Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC), opened, Friday September 29, 2023 in Brazzaville, the work of the 19th Plenary of the Technical Commission of the said Group. In the presence of André Kanga, Permanent Secretary of this institution of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

In his speech, Jean-Baptiste Ondaye recalled that this Plenary was preceded by the meeting of experts from the six member countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), namely: Cameroon; the Central African Republic; Congo-Brazzaville; The gabon ; Equatorial Guinea; Chad; and an associate member state, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Indeed, for five days, from Monday September 25 to Friday September 29, 2023, these experts exchanged within the framework of two working groups, namely: the Working Group on Evaluations and Compliance (GEC) and the Working Group on risks, trends and methods (GRTM). As such, they worked on, among other issues, the Draft Regulation implementing targeted financial sanctions linked to the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons in each GABAC member state; the draft Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) of the CAR; the 2nd Monitoring Report of the DRC with request for a new Rating; the adoption of the Report and recommendations of the Working Group on Risks, Trends and Methods (GRTM), etc.

The current President of GABAC indicated that “in addition to the assessments and beyond the analysis of risks, trends and methods, the discussions between experts also focused on monitoring the implementation of the recommendations resulting from the 18th Plenary of the Technical Commission, held in April 2023 in Libreville, Gabon. It appears from this review of the implementation of the recommendations that the results are rather mixed. The inclusion of certain countries already assessed following the so-called ICRG procedure of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the consequence of this state of affairs.”

The Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance took this opportunity “to launch an appeal to States, so that the ongoing efforts, aimed at making the sub-region an impregnable fortress against organized financial crime, with its cohort of economic and security threats, be pursued with more rigor and pragmatism. Indeed, the urgency requires that synergies between state and non-state actors be further strengthened. The urgency requires that substantial resources be made available to national and community authorities dedicated to the fight against “dirty money” and its by-products. Urgency requires, finally, that everything be done to ensure the strengthening of the capacities of the expertise which must lead this fight, which is both tough and complex, both at the level of States and on a national scale. community”.

In the implementation of the system to combat "dirty money", Jean-Baptiste Ondaye spoke of the actions implemented by Congo-Brazzaville, host country of the 19th Plenary, with a view to correcting the shortcomings . In particular: “the completion of the national money laundering and terrorist financing (ENR) risk assessment process; the establishment of a National Strategy to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, accompanied by a three-year Action Plan; the promulgation of Law No. 28-2021, of May 12, 2021, establishing the legal regime for the freezing of assets or assets linked to terrorism and its financing.”

For the record, GABAC was created on December 14, 2000. It is the extension, in Central Africa, of the Global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), created in July 1989. Its headquarters is in Libreville, Gabon.

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance