The National Coordinating Committee Meeting and Technical Working group on Tuesday 26th September met to table the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CTF), and launched its Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
The implementation of the strategic plan, is the third proposal that sets out seven objectives – a responsibility of NCC and the Technical working groups from 15 different PNG institutions.
Top five risks Papua New Guinea faces are, Illegal logging, Illegal fishing, fraud and tax evasion among others; and this strategic plan is aiming to address this issues.
Governor for Bank of PNG, Elizabeth Genia and Secretary for the Department of Justice, Dr. Eric Kwa were present to launch the plan.
“This document is a list of the essential things that we need to do in the next five year. It talks about how we should be protecting our country, not damaging our economy, socially and our reputation.
“The document recognizes the international environment in which we will be operating in; and also domestically. It emphasizes the document’s approach, its intelligence led, risk assessment and is based on evidence and collection of assessments across different agencies,” said Genia.
Found in the ‘2017 Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism National Risk Assessment’, “the threat of money laundering associated with counterfeit goods is thus, assessed to be very high. Environmental offences and several serious cases cover a wide range and top risks in the country”.
According to BPNG’s webpage on discussions of AML/CTF, effective enforcement of regulations and policies to deter money laundering and the financing of terrorism should enhance the integrity of the financial system and reduce incentives for the commission of crime with a jurisdiction.