Freetown, October 19, 2026: –Deputy Minister of Finance II, Isata Marah, has called for stronger national coordination in combating illicit financial flows as she officially opened a three-day stakeholder engagement on Sierra Leone’s proposed consolidated Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) database.
The engagement, organized by the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) in partnership with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), is taking place at the Radisson Blu Hotel under the theme: “From Fragmented Information to Coordinated Intelligence.”
Addressing participants at the opening ceremony, Marah underscored the devastating impact of illicit financial flows on Africa’s development, noting that the continent loses an estimated US$88.6 billion annually to the menace.
She said money laundering and related financial crimes continue to undermine economic growth by diverting resources that could otherwise be invested in critical sectors such as education, healthcare and infrastructure development.
The Deputy Minister observed that while Sierra Leone’s institutions currently possess valuable financial and regulatory information, much of the data remains scattered across different agencies and systems.
According to her, the proposed national AML/CFT database will help bridge those gaps by consolidating information, enabling earlier detection of financial crimes, strengthening risk assessment mechanisms and facilitating faster institutional responses.
Marah highlighted several safeguards that will underpin the system, including lawful access protocols, security-by-design measures, audit trails, data quality controls and respect for individual rights and privacy.
She, however, cautioned that technology alone would not guarantee effective compliance, stressing the need for robust governance structures, skilled personnel and sustainable financing to ensure the database achieves its intended objectives.
Describing the initiative as both a national security and economic development agenda, Marah emphasized that financial integrity is essential for improving domestic revenue mobilisation, boosting investor confidence and maintaining macroeconomic stability.
She urged participants to use the engagement as an opportunity to reach consensus on key areas, including a shared national vision, governance arrangements, technical standards, data protection measures, capacity building initiatives, financing strategies and monitoring frameworks.
Declaring the engagement officially open, the Deputy Minister commended the FIA and GIABA for bringing stakeholders together and called on institutions to work collectively to transform information into intelligence and intelligence into coordinated action for the security and prosperity of Sierra Leone.
The three-day engagement is expected to bring together key stakeholders from government institutions, regulatory bodies, law enforcement agencies and development partners to discuss frameworks for the establishment and management of the consolidated AML/CFT database.
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