A leading expert in Anti-Money
laundering from ϲ, Newcastle, has presented some of the initial
findings of her research into money laundering and the proceeds of corruption
in Nigeria to an international audience.
Dr Jackie Harvey, Professor
of Financial Management and Director of Business Research at Northumbria’s
Newcastle Business School, was speaking at a virtual workshop hosted by the Royal
United Services Institute (RUSI). She addressed delegates from the National
Crime Agency’s International Corruption Unit, World Economic Forum, the
global Financial Action Task Force, the West African regional action task force
against money laundering, together with agencies and third sector pressure
groups from Nigeria and the UK.
Professor Harvey’s research project: Practical interventions for
uncovering and identifying ‘Beneficial Ownership’ as a mechanism to recover the
proceeds of corruption – A Nigerian case study,
Hs been investigating whether current
international anti-corruption frameworks can be better targeted to reduce
opportunities for the proceeds of corruption to be moved across the globe. She, along with other presenters from
OpenOwnership, were able to advise delegates on the workshop that the Nigerian
government has given its commitment to a range of anti-corruption (AC)
measures, including the creation of a public central register of the beneficial
owners of companies. It has also committed to the creation of a platform for
information sharing and coordination amongst AC and security agencies and to
bring forward a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to allow for non-conviction based
confiscation powers and improved management of recovered assets.
The workshop
focused on some of the practical operational issues involved in register
creation and the challenges around verification of the identity of beneficial,
rather than simply legal, owners of companies. The research pointed to the difference between being compliant versus being
effective. Indeed, there appears to be little problem with collecting data, a
lot of information (almost too much in some cases) is collected on beneficial
ownership by different agencies, what is missing is the institutional capacity
to bring it together in a timely and useable form for those who need to make
use of the information.
Reflecting on
the success of the event, Professor Harvey commented: “The beauty of a virtual workshop
was that we were able to bring together a geographically remote group of
influential people who could feedback on our research and suggest future areas of
investigation. I am grateful to RUSI for
hosting the event and to OpenOwnership for their contribution”.
Professor
Harvey’s research is supported by The Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence
Programme - a
partnership between Washington DC-based anti-corruption and open governance
organisation Global Integrity, and the UK Department for International
Development (DfID). Together with 14 research partners around the world its aim
is to generate new and operationally relevant evidence to help policy makers,
practitioners and advocates design and implement more effective anti-corruption
initiatives.
