Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance announced that Finance Minister Ahmed Sheku Fantamadi Bangura has taken over as Chair of the GIABA Ministerial Committee at an extraordinary Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) ministerial meeting in Accra on 19 July 2025, and used his statement to outline priorities to strengthen the region’s fight against financial crime. Bangura thanked outgoing chair Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and committed to work with GIABA member states through the GIABA Ministerial Committee, described as GIABA’s highest decision-making body. He pointed to second-round mutual evaluations as showing foundational progress across the region, while highlighting cybercrime sophistication, illicit maritime financial flows and the Alliance of Sahel States’ withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as developments requiring vigilance and adaptive strategies. His priorities included stronger regional cooperation to close cross-border coordination gaps, targeted capacity-building for national authorities, and more robust intelligence-sharing mechanisms to enable real-time collaboration, alongside a shift from technical compliance toward demonstrable effectiveness supported by sustained high-level political commitment, investment and policy alignment.

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