The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has been evaluating since Monday the Togolese system to protect the national economy and the financial and banking systems against the proceeds of crime and to fight against the financing of terrorism.
For this ECOWAS body, Togo has made progress in resolving strategic shortcomings. A result achieved thanks to numerous reforms including the adoption of key legislation, obtaining convictions for various predicate offences, the launch of the national risk assessment, the provision of statistics for the exchange of information, fraud and seizure of prohibited products.
Despite this progress, there are some shortcomings that constitute real threats, namely capital flight and illicit financial flows (IFFs), including those generated by terrorist organizations, which are part of the scourge of money laundering, presents a certain risk. for African economies. According to some estimates, IFFs from Africa amount to tens of billions of dollars a year.
Tax evasion are all missed opportunities to generate revenue that African states so badly need to finance key sectors of the economy, fight against poverty and invest in social protection.