CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
Money laundering and terrorist financing undermine development by eroding social and human capital, affecting social and political stability, causing artificial rise in the cost of business, and thus driving away business and investment and undermining the ability of the states to accelerate development. A State or Society that is infested with Terrorism and Money laundering is bound to be lawless or order less, and anarchy, will thus, set in thereby rendering the society undeveloped politically and economically.
The process of globalization and advancement in modern technology have made West Africa to be more vulnerable to the threats of terrorism and money laundering than any other region of the world. Nigeria, Kenya and some African countries have witnessed the scorch of terrorism: Resources from organized crimes through money laundering have sustained this menace thus the need for a fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Globalization has resulted in the need for international organization and regional bodies to broaden their focus beyond state – based security threats to encompass, those emanating from non-state perpetrators1.
Transnational organized crime is one of the major threats to international peace and security. Thus, money laundering and terrorist financing form part of the threat. While money laundering (ML) is a derivative crime, financing of terrorism (FT) is a ‘reversed’ form of money laundering as it may involve both legitimate and illegitimate wealth2. These menaces are detrimental to peace and security, and could undermine the overall development of society. This is why concerted global efforts to eradicate these phenomena are gaining momentum. Also, technological advancement, in tandem with globalization, has changed the economic and political landscape of the planet. Organized criminals take advantage of the powerful instruments of technology and globalization to perpetrate their unwholesome activities with relative impunity. While criminals respect no territorial boundaries, law enforcement must act within the ambit of the law to counter the activities of criminals. Given the difficulties in responding rapidly to the threat of transnational organized crime, law enforcement, even in the most advanced countries, always seems to be a step behind the complex modus operadi of criminals.