Mozambique: PM demands better implementation of Kimberley

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Mozambique: PM demands better implementation of Kimberley

8:30 CAT | 08 Nov 2019

FILE: For illustration purposes only. [in file CoM]

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Wednesday demanded better implementation in Mozambique of the Kimberley process, the international mechanism which seeks to ensure that “conflict diamonds” (also known as “blood diamonds”) do not enter the legitimate chains of diamond marketing.

Speaking at a ceremony in Maputo, where he swore into office Castro Elias, as the executive secretary of Mozambique’s Kimberley Process Management Unit, Rosario said the world has witnessed “the growing sale of precious minerals through illegal circuits, which are generally used to finance criminal activities, which undermine the credibility of the economic and financial system of any country”.

The Kimberley Process had been set up, he continued, “to prevent precious stones and metals from being used to finance terrorism and armed conflicts, and to destabilise legitimately elected governments”.

The Management Unit, said Rosario, “has the responsibility to issue certificates and other documentation required for the sale of precious stones and metals, including diamonds”.

By creating this unit, “we also intend to guarantee placing on the market, through the legal circuit, the various types of precious minerals that the country possesses, such as gold, silver, platinum, rubies, tourmalines, sapphires and emeralds, and thus discourage the illegal sale of these minerals”.

The government, Rosario added, expects Elias to guarantee implementation of the Mozambican legislation concerning the mining, processing and sale of precious stones.

Pmnot.not_ — From left to right: Deputy General Director of the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Office (GFIM) Amorim Bila, Prime Minster Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, Executive Secretary of Mozambique’s Kimberley Process Management Unit Castro Elias. [Photo: Notícias]

At the same ceremony, the Prime Minister swore into office Amorim Bila as the Deputy General Director of the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Office (GFIM). This body is intended to undertake and coordinate actions to prevent and fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

“Transnational crime”, said Rosario, “has a negative impact on the economic and financial systems of countries, and is generally associated with trafficking in drugs and in people, kidnapping, corruption, tax evasion, and other crimes which generate financial resources illicitly”.

These sums, obtained illegally, he added, are then channelled through financial systems “in order to hide their criminal origins, a process known as money laundering”.

Failure to take money laundering or the financing of terrorism seriously could endanger the credibility of the country’s financial system”, warned Rosario.

He urged Bila to work with his colleagues in the GFIM as a team, so that the institution can respond to the challenges posed by organised crime, and ensure that the Mozambican financial system remains credible at national and international levels.

Source: AIM