Tamale-Ghana, July 14, GNA – Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) have been called upon to report suspicious transactions and activities, which could project them as conduits of money laundering.
Mr Seth Nana Amoah, Head of Compliance at the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), who made the call, said NPOs must monitor workers as well as business partners at all times to detect attempts to support financing terrorism or money laundering.
He urged organisations to probe into the nature of donors, know the funding source to avoid cases where they could be a medium for money laundering.
He made the call at an anti-money laundering sensitisation workshop in Tamale organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).
The workshop was to build the capacity of NPOs on the legal framework of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation (AML/CFT&P).
It formed part of the Safeguarding NPOs in Ghana Against Financing from Terrorists project, which aimed at ensuring an enabling environment for Civil Society Organisations to operate free from terrorists’ influence.
Participants at the workshop were heads and staff members of NPOs and other groups from the regions in the north considered susceptible to money laundering.
Mr Douglas Quartey, Researcher and Development Consultant at IDEG, said NPOs were recognised by the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (ACT 1044) as one of the accountable institutions, which were more likely to be exploited by terrorists through funding.
He entreated NPOs to be transparent with their operations, and said it was illegal per the Anti-Money Laundering Act to use an organisation to carry out activities that were not permissible.
Mr Dela Ashiabor, Head of NPOs Secretariat, advised NPOs to take keen interest in the background check of voluntary workers adding everyone was a suspect in the subject of money laundering.
