Daily Independent Online.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
Financial task force removes sanctions against Nigeria
By ‘Gbenga
Abiodun, Abuja
A
rare international commendation came for Nigeria on Tuesday.
Buoyed
by the government’s giant strides to restore sanctity in the economic and
financial environment, the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has
agreed to remove all sanctions imposed on Nigeria for its former bad record.
It
praised the efforts so far made by the government, which included the
establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) headed by
Assistant Commissioner of Police Nuhu Ribadu and noted that “substantial
progress” has taken place in curing the advance fee fraud (419) syndrome.
The
FATF had in its June 2001 report indicted Nigeria on its involvement in large
scale money laundering and other related offences and had listed it among
non-Cooperative Countries and Territories attracting many sanctions.
FATF
President Clues Norgren, in a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo, dated July
2, 2004, congratulated him on the positive developments that have occurred in
Nigeria since the indictment three years ago.
The
June/July 2004 FATF plenary has approved a revised progress report on Nigeria.
A
statement signed by Presidential Assistant on Media Justin Abuah said Norgren
told Obasanjo in the letter that Nigeria would now move to the next phase of
the process that will culminate in its removal from the FATF list of
non-cooperative countries.
Norgren
wrote: “I am writing to congratulate you on the substantial progress that
Nigeria has recently made in reforming its counter-money laundering regime and
in responding to the deficiencies identified in the June 2001 Report of the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)”.
The
next phase in the de-listing procedure is the elaboration of an implementation
plan for Nigeria’s recently enacted laws against money-laundering and
financial crimes, followed by visits of
FATF officials for an assessment of the implementation of the laws.
