ISSP-CGCC Joint Baseline Study on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism in the IGAD Subregion
Author : James Cockayne and Tu’emay Aregawi Desta
Date : May 2012
This report examine issues of money laundering and terrorism financing in East Africa, which pose a significant threat to security and development in the subregion.
Both the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group have identified a number of states in the subregion as demonstrating weak implementation of international standards on anti–money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) issues. There is consequently a growing recognition that states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) stand to benefit in multiple ways from a more concerted effort to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. There is also, however, a chronic limitation of data and knowledge about the problems of money laundering and terrorism financing and about AML/CFT vulnerabilities, risks, and capacities in the subregion.
In this study, the IGAD Security Sector Program (ISSP) and CGCC set out to provide a more detailed and nuanced analysis of AML/CFT challenges and opportunities in the IGAD region. The study responds to repeated requests by the ISSP’s and CGCC’s partners in the subregion who sought assistance in obtaining baseline data about money laundering risks and AML capacity in the region and guidance on the data’s potential use for CFT efforts. Experts from the East African and Horn of Africa subregion coordinated and conducted the project and, where appropriate, drew on outside expertise. The study was prepared by independent researchers with support and guidance from the ISSP and CGCC and an informal advisory group of interested officials, academics, and business professionals from the subregion.
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