Typologies

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.  It is well known that the sea is the real theater of the world economy. In fact, 90% of the trade carried out throughout the world is facilitated by maritime navigation routes. In addition, three quarters (3/4) of the Planet is occupied by the oceans. This is why the issue of safety at sea remains at the center of the objectives of sustainable development. Despite all efforts, the Gulf of Guinea continues to struggle with insecurity. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Sixty-five (65) incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first half of 2023, an increase from 58 incidents in the first half of the same period in 2022. Of the 65 reported incidents, 57 vessels were boarded, four (4) were attacked, two (2) were hijacked and two (2) were fired upon. During the same period, violence against crews continued with, in particular, 36 hostage-takings and 14 kidnappings.

2.  The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) is a part of the Atlantic Ocean that stretches from Senegal to Angola and covers approximately 2,874 nautical miles of coastline. It is an important maritime area for the transport of oil and gas as well as goods to and from Africa and the rest of the world. About 20,000 ships pass through the maritime waters of the Gulf of Guinea per year, and the weather conditions are not extreme. It is a maritime space also rich in fuel, fish and other resources, which makes it an immense potential for maritime trade, resource extraction, maritime transport and development.

3.  The proceeds generated by maritime crime could very much constitute a source of facilitation and supply for organized criminal gangs to extend their networks and make their criminal activities prosper at sea and on land. And yet, until now, few studies had been conducted to explore the links between the associated financial flows and maritime crime, and to propose appropriate countermeasures. This study, fully funded by the European Union (EU) under the 11^th EDF, is an attempt in this direction. It aims to be an important contribution to the West Africa Integrated Maritime Security Support Project (SWAIMS) ¹, by raising maritime awareness around the need to prioritize the confiscation of proceeds and instrumentalities of the maritime offence, and the dismantling of groups operating in networks.

4.  In summary, the results of this study, which relied heavily on the expertise of GIABA, its member States and the global network of actors in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, reveal a weak implementation of existing legal frameworks in terms of maritime security and safety, but above all a notorious lack of interministerial cooperation and inter-agency collaboration. This not only weakens the potential for detecting criminal activity at sea but makes it more difficult to trace the origin of funds generated by such activity, which may be concealed in complex offshore accounts or moved across multiple jurisdictions.

5.  This report presents an inventory of the situation in six (6) countries of the Gulf of Guinea, namely: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Togo. It nevertheless hopes, through the relevant conclusions and recommendations it contains, to inspire all the other coastal countries in the region.

6.  This regional report shows, approximately, that most illicit acts committed partially or totally at sea generate revenues to their perpetrators. It has the merit of dwelling on the weakness of the legal, institutional and operational responses to maritime crime, as well as the absence of public and private partnership to overcome this phenomenon. In light of the challenges and vulnerabilities identified through a desk review and an in-depth analysis of the case studies presented by the countries, the following recommendations have been formulated:

GIABA Coastal Member States shall, among others:

·  Conduct a sectoral risk assessment to determine the extent to which criminals can misuse their financial and non-financial sectors to conceal and launder proceeds from maritime crime and apply mitigating measures.

·   Develop or update national maritime safety and security strategies to ensure that they appropriately involve

the Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) and other relevant AML/CFT actors. Adopt a national policy document to combat all forms of crimes committed at sea.

·   Revise existing national AML/CFT strategies to include maritime professionals and all direct stakeholders

in maritime safety and security.

·  Carry out legislative reforms to ensure that all forms of maritime crime are criminalized in accordance with acceptable international standards, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

·   Define through laws, regulations or any relevant directives, mechanisms by which key maritime agencies

and institutions would collaborate with the financial intelligence units in order to facilitate oversight of the sector and create of a routine of information sharing for the AML/CFT purposes.

·    Sensitize all actors operating in the port and maritime sectors so that they can strictly apply the FATF

standards as an effective tool to combat the laundering of funds arising from maritime crime.

·  Support archiving systems in all maritime agencies and develop a mechanism for spontaneous sharing or systematic access to information by Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and criminal investigation and prosecution authorities.

·   Strengthen the operational capacities of criminal investigation and prosecution authorities to detect forms of

maritime crime and conduct parallel financial investigations.

·    Adopt a specific AML/CFT criminal policy that would systematize joint investigations, financial investigations, confiscation and recourse to regional and international cooperation.

·   Equip maritime crime fighting agencies with rapid intervention gadgets (high-powered engines) and state-

of-the-art equipment (drones).

·  Set up a system for alerting and denouncing acts of corruption in the maritime environment, together with a protection regime for whistleblowers.

·   Strengthen the powers and responsibilities of relevant maritime agencies to ensure that they contribute to

AML/CFT financial flow detection, investigation and prosecution efforts.

·  Take adequate measures to ensure the confiscation of all proceeds of criminal activities (including those committed at sea) and the property of their perpetrators (bank accounts, real estate and other valuables) when their guilt is established.

·   Continue and intensify the training of actors in the criminal justice system (Police, Gendarmerie, Secretaries

of Public Prosecutor’s Office, Registry staff and Magistrates) to prepare them to act in a network with new working methods and special and innovative investigation techniques.

·   Strengthen the capacities of lead maritime agencies in financial investigations and of all maritime courts in

AML/CFT matters.

·  Establish legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms to coordinate the use of international cooperation more effectively in the investigation and prosecution of ML/TF related to maritime crime.

·    Establish a mechanism for regulatory control and supervision of private maritime companies and their

activities to ensure that they comply with Law of the sea.

·  Follow up beyond the EU project to support the establishment of a Regional Forum of Lead Maritime Agencies for the exchange of information and knowledge on critical emerging AML/CFT issues.

·   Explore the opportunity to create a regional tribunal for the law of the sea to focus on the prosecution of

maritime criminal acts committed in the marine area of the Gulf of Guinea.