The adequacy and efficacy of anti-money laundering legislations within the context of electronic banking and informal remittance systems in developing countries with particular reference to Nigeria and South Africa

In recent times, international, regional and local legislation has been couched to strengthen anti-corruption institutions and deter corrupt public officials from syphoning public wealth for their benefits, but this has continued unabated in spite of some successes recorded from these anti-graft agencies. Electronic banking notable for timeliness in executing transfers have helped in facilitating ease of doing business and as well accelerated the transfer of illicit wealth to secrecy jurisdictions. So regardless of internal and prudential controls instituted by regulatory authorities to ensure transparency in handling transactions and the reporting requirements for suspicious transactions, money laundering persists. Tracing and recovering the loot becomes another financial, legal and inter-state hurdle on the part of law enforcement agencies while the perpetrators live in exquisite luxury believing that the loot is their fair share of the ‘national cake.' This dissertation sought to assess the adequacy and efficacy of anti-money laundering legislation given the complexities of the local environment: namely nepotism, weak institutions, and predominance of a cash-based economy, lack of independence and the politicisation of corruption. First, we consider the enormity of the problem of corruption and its effect on developing countries with due regard to security, judicial fairness and stability of the economy. After that is an examination of international and local money laundering initiatives with a considerable emphasis on the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the role of the Financial Intelligence Unit in providing intelligence for tracing of corrupt proceeds. The researcher asserts that anti-money laundering legislation will be efficacious where good governance prevails and the incentives for corruption including nepotism and prebendal attitudes are discouraged. A State, which provides social safety nets for its populace, would strengthen the anticorruption fight thereby discouraging new entrants into public office positions from graft and abuse of those positions of authority.