At the heart of the national system for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism of the
Benin, the National Unit for the Processing of Financial Information (CENTIF), plays a key role in the
triggering public action against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism
(ML/TF) and therefore, against the underlying lucrative offences or crimes.
Mr. Speaker, introduce us to CENTIF-Benin
The CENTIF of Benin was created through Decree No. 2006-752 of 31 December 2006 in application of
provisions of the former Law No. 2006-14 of 31 October 2006 on the fight against money laundering
in Benin. According to this decree, CENTIF was an administrative service under the supervision of the Ministry
in charge of Finance with financial autonomy. But since the adoption of the new law, Law 2018-17
of 25 July 2018 on combating money laundering and terrorist financing in
Republic of Benin, a new decree, Decree No. 2018-347 of 25 July 2018 on attributions,
organization and functioning of CENTIF taken in application of the provisions of this new law,
now confers on CENTIF the status of Administrative Authority placed under the supervision of the MEF, endowed with
financial autonomy and autonomous decision-making power on matters within its competence (Art
59 of the law cited above).
What are the missions assigned to CENTIF?
Two essential missions stem from the attributions of CENTIF defined in Article 60 of Law 2018-17:
an operational mission; a strategic mission. The operational mission is to receive, analyze
and process information to establish the origin of transactions or the nature of transactions
the subject of suspicious reports received from its taxable persons: this is its main function as a
than Financial Intelligence Unit. Then, the strategic mission is to advise the State, to
issue opinions on the implementation of the national anti policy Capital and the financing of terrorism: this amounts to spurring relevant reforms or proposing
measures to strengthen the anti terrorism in Benin.
How does CENTIF manage to fulfill these two missions and with what means?
The means available to CENTIF are essentially legal. Indeed, to carry out these two
Crucial missions, the law has given it several prerogatives that allow it to effectively achieve its
Objectives. By way of illustration, I can mention the right to oppose the execution of a suspicious transaction for 48h
(Article 68 of Law 2018-17); the extended right of communication allowing access to all sources
information necessary for the conduct of its investigations (Article. 70 of Law 2018-17); unenforceability
professional secrecy at his requests (Article 96 of Law 2018-17); the obligation imposed on the institutions
Designated Non-Financial Professional Companies, i.e. lawyers,
notaries, accountants, real estate agencies, the gaming and casino sector, agencies
travel, hotels and many others, ... to make suspicious transaction reports to the
CENTIF (Article 79 of Law 2018-17); information provided to CENTIF by the supervisory authorities, the
judicial police officers, national authorities and professional orders at his request or on their
initiative (Articles 60 paragraph 2 and 75 paragraph 2 of Law 2018-17); CENTIF's use of means
investigation available to the Ministries in charge of Finance, Justice and Security and
other bodies for the investigation of offences giving rise to reporting obligations (paragraph 5 of
Article 60 of Law 2018-17); CENTIF correspondents at the central services of
the public administration (Article 63 of Law 2018-17) and its declarants to all taxable persons
(Article 64 of Law 2018-17) which are the focal points of CENTIF.

What are the most important activities carried out by CENTIF-Benin in recent years?
Over the past three years, several relevant activities and reforms have been carried out under
the impetus of CENTIF. I will not be able to present them all here but to answer your question, I
I will talk about two or three major projects that have been completed. First, the project to carry out the national assessment of
money laundering and terrorist financing risks: this is a coordinated capital project
by CENTIF under the careful supervision of the Minister of Economy and Finance in person Romuald
WADAGNI. This exercise, which is a major requirement of the Financial Action Task Force standards, was
carried out at national level and at the level of all financial and economic sectors with the involvement of
all public and private actors. Through a consolidated and cross national and sectoral vulnerabilities, the national risk assessment allowed for the identification, analysis and
understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks to which Benin
is exposed both at the overall level of economic activity and at the level of the financial and non
Subject. The report of this national risk assessment and its recommendations were approved
by the Government in the Council of Ministers on 14 November 2018 and the results were then
widely disseminated to all stakeholders who have at the same time been sensitized on
the provisions of the Law on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.
A second major activity carried out by CENTIF in recent years has been to
contribute through the numerous training and awareness compliance and General Managers of Banks, integrity and safety of the banking system and
financial of Benin. Thus, Benin's banks now have compliance
strong and effective anti-bleaching. In addition, they have acquired the reflex of systematic implementation
obligations of vigilance and knowledge of their customers. Indeed, they have all strengthened their
procedures for controlling transactions at their counters to avoid being exposed to the risks of
money laundering or terrorist financing with enormous consequences. Finally, as
third example, CENTIF has contributed substantially to the training of investigative and
criminal prosecutions, police officers, water and forest officers, customs officers and magistrates on several
themes of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Thus, most
officers of the Units of the Republican Police in charge of the repression of predicate offences
such as the Economic and Financial Brigade, the Central Office for the Suppression of Cybercrime, the Office
Central for the suppression of illicit trafficking in drugs and precursors, the Criminal Brigade as well as
several magistrates of both the Court for the Suppression of Economic Offences and Terrorism and
courts of first instance have been trained on financial investigation techniques and
criminal prosecution in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
What can be learned from the money laundering and terrorist financing risks identified in
this report ?
So on the risks identified, let's say to summarize that according to the conclusions of the report on the ENR, the
risk of money laundering is very high in Benin while that related to the financing of terrorism
is at an average level. The main weaknesses or inadequacies that were at the root of these
conclusions at the time of the evaluation were mainly related to: the weakness of the legal framework which
governed the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in Benin, a framework that does not
did not respond to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, the FATF. This framework did not allow in
the effectiveness of effectively preventing and suppressing these scourges; the porosity of borders; to massive use
the species in the transactions; the low level of compliance of financial and non
institutions financial subject to the Anti terrorism; the lack or weakness of supervision and control of certain sensitive sectors.
What are the recommendations made in this report to correct these shortcomings?
Several recommendations were made in the report of the national risk assessment of
money laundering and terrorist financing. As I have already told you, the Council of
Ministers under the chairmanship of His Excellency President TALON, approved at its meeting of 14
November 2018 the report of the National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and
financing of terrorism and instructed the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Keeper of the Seals,
Minister of Justice and Legislation, Minister of the Interior and Public Security and Minister
delegate to the President of the Republic, in charge of National Defence, to make arrangements
necessary for the implementation of the recommendations made in that report, in accordance with a
action plan. In compliance with this decision of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of economy and
Finance ensured the diligent development of a strategic plan and an action plan for implementation
the recommendations made in the report. Seven (07) strategic axes or poles have been selected for
define the actions and measures to be implemented with a view to effectively correcting weaknesses and shortcomings
identified and effectively address the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing
in our country. These are actions and measures aimed at: strengthening the legal framework for the fight against
Benin's money laundering and terrorist financing, the strengthening of counter
against money laundering and terrorist financing of taxable persons, strengthening the supervisory and control framework for taxable persons on the fight against money laundering and the financing of
terrorism, CENTIF operational capacity building, capacity building
CENTIF's strategic, strengthening the capacity of investigative and prosecuting authorities on the fight against
against money laundering and terrorist financing, strengthening prevention against
financing of terrorism in Benin.
What is the current state of play of the fight against money laundering and the financing of
terrorism after this work that you have just mentioned?
To take stock of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in
Benin today, it can be said that overall, Benin has resolutely registered among the countries committed to
eradicate all underlying offences or crimes that generate illicit financial flows. Indeed, with
the declared will of the Head of State, President Patrice TALON to establish a virtuous governance, the
the fight against impunity and all forms of economic or financial crimes is now a reality
in our country. In these circumstances, the anti terrorist financing is proving to be an excellent tool for good governance and the fight against all
predicate offences, including corruption and its related offences, tax evasion or< > customs, smuggling or any other illicit trafficking. It is in this context that following the evaluation
national risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, several reforms have been
undertaken by the Government to strengthen the legal, institutional and operational framework of the
prevention and repression of all economic or financial crimes and consequently, for
effectively combat money laundering and terrorist financing. For example, on
these include: the adoption of a new law on combating money laundering and financing
of terrorism, law N°2018-17 promulgated by the Head of State on 25 July 2018 and which is more than 90%
in line with the FATF Recommendations. This is a uniform law that should have been internalized since
2015 in accordance with the WAEMU Directive; the creation of a Court for the Repression of Offences
Economic and Terrorism (CRIET) to prosecute and punish all offences more effectively
or underlying crimes that generate illicit financial flows and their perpetrators; strengthening
attributions and prerogatives of the National Unit for the Processing of Financial Information (CENTIF)
through a new decree carrying AOF of THE CENTIF which now confers on it the status of authority
administrative instead of administrative service. This allows CENTIF to be at the heart of intelligence
and to play a central role in national cooperation and coordination between all actors
involved in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, including >
Economic and Financial Brigade, the Central Office for the Suppression of Cybercrime, the Central Office of
repression of illicit trafficking in drugs and precursors, the Criminal Brigade, the judicial authorities in
in particular CRIET and other state intelligence services. dematerialization and the obligation of
settlement of transactions with state agencies by non