The Director General of Kenya’s Financial Reporting Centre, FRC, Saitoti Kimerei Maika, has commended the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its strategic efforts in implementing the anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism frameworks in Nigeria.
The frameworks, which are in line with the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2022, comply with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Maika, who spoke through James Manyonge, Director of Legal Compliance and External Relations at Kenya’s Financial Reporting Centre, gave the commendation in Abuja when he led other members of his team on a study visit to the SCUML office.
He described SCUML’s doggedness and resilience in implementing the AML/CFT/CPF frameworks as exemplary, adding that his team came to Nigeria to understudy the secret behind the country’s success in implementing the frameworks. Hae also sought SCUML’s support and collaboration in fighting the menace across the Sahel region.
Maika particularly explained that collaboration with SCUML was important for his centre to understand the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), which have been identified as potentially vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing.
“We are in Nigeria to study how Nigeria implemented some of the measures to combat anti-money laundering and terrorism financing, and in Kenya, as the FIU, we have many roles and purposes. We are the central agency for receiving and analysing suspicious transactions and disseminating intelligence to law enforcement agencies”.
“So, the purpose of our visit today is that we are really interested in understanding the DNFBPs’ supervision and how SCUML takes the supervision, and we have to learn from them because as a regulator, one of the challenges we have in Kenya is how to regulate the DNFBPs sector, ” he said.
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