The Central Bank of Liberia is admonished to suspend with immediate effect the operating license of OMEGA Group of Insurance Limited and disqualifies its Managing Director, Ganjay L. Ananaba’s eligibility to head any financial institution in Liberia in addition to OMEGA.
The Financial Intelligent Unit (FIU) described the insurance group and Director Ananaba as a primary concern for money laundering in Liberia.
The FIU is advising all banks and non-bank financial institutions operating in Liberia to sever relationship with Mr. Annaba and the OMEGA with immediate action.
The FIU is reporting that the OMEGA Group of Insurance Limited and its Managing Director, Ananaba, have blatantly refused and failed to comply with AML/CFT reporting obligations, inspections and examinations.
Unlike other reporting entities/insurance companies, OMEGA has also refused and failed to file STRs and CTRs with the FIU as required by law; the FIU explained.
FIU also stated that the insurance company also refused and failed to allow it inspect and examine the company’s books and records, contrary to law and for reasons known to itself which is a continual non-compliance, inappropriate and suspicious act on the part of OMEGA and its Managing Director Ananaba.
Accordingly, Mr. Ananaba and OMEGA continue to display not only hostile and arrogant posture to the rule of law and blatant refusal to meet their statutory obligation, but are also preventing regulators from carrying out statutory mandates, thereby creating huge vulnerabilities in Liberia’s financial space for obvious personal gains.
Additionally, the FIU is informing persons doing business with OMEGA both locally and internationally to take note and act in light of this designation against OMEGA Group of Insurance Limited and its CEO, Annaba.
The FIU decision was taken in order to prevent the financial system from high possibility of being abused by OMEGA and Mr. Ananaba, the designees; a statement under the signature of the Unit’s Executive Director is quoted.
The FIU explained that it has invited all insurance companies including OMEGA by and through Mr. Ananaba requesting submission of total Portfolio and that of third party (ies) or reinsurer so as to reduce the risks of the issuance of defective bonds to the detriment of effective attainment of justice.
“Unlike all other insurance companies, OMEGA by and through Mr. Ananaba up to date has refused and instead sent the FIU to meet its lawyer who in term threatened the FIU with legal actions for carrying out its statutory and lawful work,” the FIU stated.
“On another occasion, where the law empowers the FIU to inspect reporting entities books for compliance for all AML/CFT regulations and laws, OMEGA’s Managing Director, refused entry and access to the FIU inspectors, thereby impeding their statutory functions,” the statement noted.
“Due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic, the FIU had to postpone its inspection and in March 2022, the FIU informed all insurance companies that it was resuming its statutory and lawful inspection of insurance companies operating in Liberia, all accepted in keeping with law and cooperated except for OMEGA and its Managing Director, who again refused the FIU access and impeded its functions in an abusive and hostile manner.”
Therefore, the FIU concluded that, Based upon these unfortunate instances on the part of OMEGA to affront the rule of law, the OMEGA and Mr. Ananaba have high savor for non-compliance, hostile to regulator, disrespect for the rule of law and gainfully benefiting from unlawful activities emanating from not being regulated.”
The FIU is designed to provide supervision of preventive measures over banks and non-bank financial institutions, as well as Designated Non-Financial Business and Professions (DNFBPs) for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorists (AML/CFT) purposes.
The FIU Act of 2012, Section 67.5 requires the institution to, among other things, inspect and examine records, ensure that reporting entities including banks, insurance companies’ etcetera file Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and Cash Transactions Reports (CTRs) as mandatory reporting obligations and also be subjected to AML/CFT oversight, regulation, and supervisions.
The FIU is further required to monitor and enforce compliance with filings and other AML/CFT obligations by reporting entities; otherwise, failure to comply could lead to the application of wide range of sanctions as provided for according to law.
Liberia’s National Risk Assessment (NRA) on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing threats and vulnerabilities finds corruption as one of the most prevalent predicate offenses generating crime proceeds in Liberia.
The NRA also well documented how Liberia’s financial system’s is unable to combat money laundering and terrorists financing therefore, the FIU led a process to the development, validation and approval of an AML/CFT Strategy and Action Plan to mitigate the risks identified by the NRA.
One of the preventive measures introduced by the FIU to mitigating risks of corruption was the immediate call to place limit on insurance companies from issuing bonds to alleged corrupt individuals beyond companies’ capacity to redeem the bond thereby, aiding and abetting acts of corruption.
