Corruption seen as ‘serious’ threat

The National Business

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
CORRUPTION is the area of focus for the financial analysis and supervision unit (Fasu) of the Bank of PNG, says director Benny Popoitai.
He has been in Lae since Monday doing awareness at schools and for the general public on the issue of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
“Corruption poses a threat to government projects, funding, completion of projects and inflating of contracts,” Popoitai told The National yesterday.
“It poses a real serious challenge on the government on the delivery of its own projects and the budget,”he said.
According to Fasu, both money laundering and terrorist financing were corrupt activities that undermined and influences Papua New Guneas’s financial stability.
Fasu was established in Sept 2016 through the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Act 2015, with two primary functions:

  • Collection of financial intelligence and information; and
  • Analysis, dissemination, and exchange of such financial intelligence with law-enforcement and regulatory authorities, domestically and also with its foreign counterparts.

A financial controller with Guard Dog Security, Wemin Kapia, who attended the awareness said it was important that everyone in Papua New Guinea understood money laundering and terrorist financing.
“Learning about these issues protects everybody in the country,” he said.
“It has a wider implication, because Papua New Guinea, as a country, exists globally.
“The ‘greylist’ implies that we live in a global village and it has implications to our financial stability.”