Ghana Off EU Money Laundering Grey List - Prez Akufo Addo Delighted

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Ghana is delighted to have been removed from the grey list of high-risk third countries in money laundering activities.

“We are delighted that, on 7 January 2022, we received a notification from the European Commission, through the intermediary of the Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, that Ghana, after the pursuit of some rigorous reforms, has now, formally, been removed from the Grey List of high-risk third countries in money laundering activities,” he said.

The president was addressing a joint press conference on Thursday (13 January) at Jubilee House with the visiting president of Hungary, János Áder, who is on a state visit to Ghana.

It will be recalled that, in 2016, Ghana was subjected to a second round of mutual evaluation by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa (GIABA).

Although this round of mutual evaluation showed some progress over an earlier exercise in 2009, there were still significant gaps that needed to be addressed. This led to Ghana being placed under observation by the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG).

As a direct result of Ghana being on the FATF list, the European Union added Ghana to its list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime in October 2020.

Over the past three years, an Inter-Ministerial Committee led by the Ministry of Finance had been hard at work co-ordinating important reforms to make good for strategic AML/CFT deficiencies.    

Welcoming President János Áder to Ghana, President Akufo-Addo described the visit as a landmark one, “as it is the first time since the fall of communism that a President from Hungary is paying a State Visit to Ghana. We are honoured by your presence, Mr President.”

As President Akufo-Addo told guests, “President Áder and I first had the opportunity of meeting on the sidelines of the R20 Austria World Summit, held in Vienna in May 2019, where we both pledged our commitment to exploring further areas of interest for the mutual benefit of our two countries.

“This visit reinforces our commitment to engage each other further to this end.”

The discussions between the two leaders and their delegations centred on the expansion of relations in the sectors of trade, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, ICT, financial services, water management and environmental protection. An agreement was put in place for the commencement of meetings under the auspices of a Permanent Joint Commission for Co-operation (PJCC), which will serve as the platform for accelerating mutually beneficial co-operation between Ghana and Hungary.

President Akufo-Addo announced that soon, a number of key agreements will be signed between Ghana and Hungary, including the continuation of the education exchange programme, the mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and service passports between the Republic of Ghana and Hungary, a memorandum of understanding on sports co-operation between the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ghana, another MoU with Hungary on co-operation in the field of water management in Kumasi, and a third MoU in the field of environmental protection and nature conservation.