The Deputy Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA), Hon. Amos Yollah Boakai and a team of high-profile representatives from Law Enforcement Agencies and other Competent Authorities from Liberia participated in a three-day highly educative and interactive expert meeting that focused on challenges and mitigating measures to tackle trade-based money laundering.
Representatives of attending institutions that participated in the FATF-GIABA experts meeting included the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), other intelligence institutions, insurance companies, compliance officers from banks within Liberia attended the colorful expert event.
The global meeting, which was held from November 4-6, 2025, at the Kempinski Hotel brought together executives of banking institutions, Insurance companies, law enforcement authorities, regulators, banks’ compliance officers, FATF executives and executives from other FATF style regional bodies, and executives and members of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) across GIABA Member States and associates.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) recent experts’ meeting provided an important platform for experts who highlighted the significant of the private sector in fighting money laundering and other financial crimes in West Africa and other parts of the world.
At the same time, key discussion topics highlighted during the expert meeting include typology studies on Trade-based Financial Crimes (TBFC), Terrorist Financing, (TF), and Fraud conducted by GIABA on various corridors within West Africa, Latin America, and Western Europe. Insightful experiences and approaches in dealing with TBFC and TF from other jurisdictions like Singapore, UK, Australia, Indonesia, amongst others were captured and discussed during the three-day FATF-GIABA expert gathering.
Delivering the official opening address on behalf of the President of Ghana, the Deputy Minister for Finance, at the Ministry of Finance, Hon. Thomas Nyarko Ampem, renewed a passionate call on Africa to take the lead in decision making when it comes to combating Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) since the continent is one of the biggest victims of the crime. He stated how billions of dollars are unlawfully taken out of Africa each year through illicit means. Deputy Minister Ampem called on Member States to strengthen their institutions, close the regulatory gaps and foster real-time intelligence sharing among countries in the region.
He welcomed the over 100 experts that were convened at the meeting from all over the world into Ghana and encouraged them to foster solutions to address issues of financial crimes, terrorism and terrorist financing.
For his part, the Director General of GIABA, Mr. Edwin W. Harris, Jr. lauded the Ghanaian Government for hosting this historic gathering that is aimed at finding solutions against trade-based money laundering. He also warned that West Africa “stood at a critical crossroads” in its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and cautioned Member States to be mindful of the exploitive possibilities because of regulatory gaps that create room for would be criminal organizations and individuals to exploit the system due to complex trade and corporate structures that are vulnerable for the movement of illicit funds across borders.
Meanwhile, the FATF-GIABA expert meeting ended on Thursday, November 6, 2025, with experts from various backgrounds calling for national and international collaboration between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to ably fight financial crimes and related crimes.