The African Peer Review Mechanism led by the APRM CEO Professor Eddy Maloka hosted Ms. Souad Aden-Osman the Executive Director of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) & Coordinator, Secretariat of the High-Level Panel (HLP) on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa and Mr Abdoulie Janneh, Alternate Chair of the Board of CoDA at the APRM headquarters. Both institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaboratively advance efforts to reduce IFFs from African countries. The union is also expected to support the work of the AU-HLP and its Consortium in carrying out the agreed phase two implementation activities towards stemming IFFs from the continent.

This particularly involves actions to address IFFs at the national level by building the capacity of AU Member States including their relevant tax and financial regulatory institutions as well as advocating for the review of legislation to support the prevention of IFFs. The Ms Aden-Osman recalled that it had always been identified by the HLP in its report that the APRM is key to engaging IFFs at the national level. Accordingly, the comparative advantage which is delivered through its existing national structures were seen as crucial to this process. In accordance with the agreement, CoDA will work closely with the APRM in South Africa to oversee the implementation of these national level activities.

In 2019, APRM and CODA agreed to work together to advance the work of the AU-HLP and its Consortium in carrying out the agreed phase two implementation activities towards stemming IFFs. As part of the implementation of phase two activities of the AU-HLP and its Consortium the APRM will assist Secretariat of the AU-HLP (CoDA) in structuring, coordinating, and institutionalizing national responses to the scourge of IFFs. APRM further will facilitate the work of the Secretariat of the AU-HLP (CoDA) at a national level using its national offices in member states.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The recommendations of the High-Level Panel (Mbeki Panel) were promptly adopted by African Heads of States at the 24th African Union Summit in 2015. Following this adoption, a Consortium of African Institutions to stem IFFs from Africa and its technical arm, the IFFs Working Group (IWG), were established to oversee the implementation of the Panel’s recommendations. An Action Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation framework as well as specifically targeted projects have been developed in a bid to enhance a strong coalition for a Joint Delivery of actions on the basis of comparative advantage and pooling of resources. The eighteen African institutions in the Consortium (led by Thabo Mbeki and the AUC) unanimously agreed to maintain and upscale ongoing efforts at national, regional and global level to implement cohesively and report in a structured manner. They also committed to foster additional research to deepen the understanding of the phenomenon and strengthen national level interventions. In efforts to ensure optimum cooperation and facilitation of the work of the HLP and Consortium, the Secretariats both were established within the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) with the support of the African Union (AU).