Mohloai Mpesi
LESOTHO could be facing a new threat of terrorism financing due to endemic corruption and money laundering in the country.
It would, therefore, require collective efforts from law enforcement agencies, to band together to ensure that money laundering activities do not graduate to terrorism financing.
This is according to the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO)’s Director of Investigations, Advocate Sefako Seema, at Friday’s closing ceremony of a two-week DCEO-European Union (EU) Investigation and Prosecution Training Workshop, at Avani Lesotho.
The training was aimed at equipping 60 DCEO investigators with skills on financial investigation and assets forfeiture.
It also aimed to capacitate prosecutors with skills to fight corruption and how best to prosecute financial cases.
In his closing remarks, Adv Seema, stated that Lesotho faced a new challenge of terrorism financing.
“Now we are faced with another problem, one of terrorism financing. Terrorism financing emanates from corrupt practices,” Adv Seema said.
While the DCEO had not conclusively detected terrorism financing in Lesotho, Adv Seema said, it remained a threat in that accruing money laundering criminal activities, could soon spill over to terrorism financing.
“As the DCEO, we haven’t conclusively detected terrorism financing yet. But we notice the risks, what can happen if we don’t strengthen our institutions, especially to curb money laundering,” Adv Seema said.
“Upon conducting some risk assessment exercises, we realised that most money laundering activities serve to finance terrorism. We are obliged by the international community to be seen to be fighting terrorism financing.
“We must capacitate our departments. It is true that terrorism falls under the police’s jurisdiction, it is fought by the police. But we must embark on a risk assessment exercise as a country. We have to fight it collectively.”
According to the International Monitory Fund (IMF) terrorism financing “involves the raising and processing of funds to supply terrorists with resources.”
Adv Seema said corruption derailed Lesotho’s progress and development, further lamenting that it took forever for courts to prosecute criminal cases “while perpetrators continue to enjoy the fruits of corruption”.
“I cannot over emphasise the impact of corruption in the country, how it derails Lesotho’s development. We must devise strategies on how to fight corruption,” he said.
“Criminal prosecution has clearly demonstrated, on evidence, that it no longer serves its purpose because you would have a criminal case taking more than five years, with criminals still enjoying the fruits of corruption.”
Adv Seema said it was imperative that they come up with strategies on asset forfeiture, to deny criminals the luxury of enjoying the fruits of corruption.
“We should involve the asset recovery mechanism, which has over the years, proven to be an internationally accepted and most effective way of fighting corruption,” he said.
Adv Seema also underscored the importance of international cooperation, as criminals often ferried illicit funds to other jurisdictions.
“Every now and then, there is a new system of money laundering. We shouldn’t be left behind. We must be ahead. Monies go out of this country and ferried all over the world. How do we recover such? So, we need to learn about international cooperation,” he said.
Workshop facilitator, Fitz-Roy Drayton, noted that corruption cost the entire world a whopping US$3.6trillion annually.
“Corruption is an international problem, and its estimated cost is about US$3.6trillion a year, worldwide. So, every country, to a larger extent, is affected by corruption.”
Therefore, Mr Drayton said the workshop had covered money laundering and equipping prosecutors with skills on how to apply legislation when pursuing prosecution to recover proceeds of corruption.
