Chairman of the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (EMLCU), Ahmed Saeed Khalil, reviewed efforts by Egypt to fight money laundering and terrorism funding.
Khalil highlighted a number of global challenges that had to be countered and their role in the spread of various crimes including the financial ones.
He made these remarks on Monday during the inaugural session of the Annual Regional Workshop on Applications and Building Capabilities in the Middle East and North Africa Region in the field of Money Laundering and Terrorism Funding. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosted the event this year.
The rapid global changes and the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic had provided a rich environment for trans-border crimes, corruption, human trafficking and illegal immigration, Khalil said.
Criminals manipulate the world crises to gain billions of dollars, which deprives the economies of developing nations from the profits of any development plans, Khalil added.
The EMLCU chief also underlined Egypt’s efforts to counter such crimes, noting that Egypt has joined the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which commits countries to fight any corruption schemes.
He said 189 countries are now signatories to the agreement.
He also talked about Egypt launching of the third phase of the national strategy for combating corruption, which covers the period from 2023 through 2030.
On combating human trafficking and illegal immigration, Khalil said Cairo has joined several international and regional agreements on combating organised crimes, including the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), also called the Palermo Convention. He added that Egypt is also a signatory to protocols on banning human trafficking, especially of women and children.
Khalil accentuated the need for promoting coordination among all parties concerned, regionally and internationally, to carry out regular financial investigation to track illicit financial activities.
He also referred to the EMLCU role in developing the Egyptian system of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
The EMLCU is an independent unit at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) established in 2003 under the money laundering law.
Khalil said that the Egyptian government is aware of the importance of issuing guidelines, conducting research, and exchanging experiences in the field of combating crimes of all kinds, especially money laundering and financing terrorism. It also believes in the importance of improving the capabilities of working agencies with the aim of confronting violators.
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