Annual Conference of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa convenes

3rd Mar 2022 | Source: codafrica.org

The High-Level Panel (HLP) on IFFs from Africa held its first meeting since the pandemic began in 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 21-25 February 2022. H.E. Mr Thabo Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of South Africa and Chair of HLP presided over the meeting. In addition to the members of the Panel, representatives of several institutions directly supporting the work of the Panel, including African Union Commission (AUC), African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), were in attendance. They were joined by partner institutions that participated virtually.

The meeting discussed the outcomes of the 4th meeting of the Consortium to Stem IFFs
from Africa, the progress on national level responses to illicit flows in response to the 2015 AU Assembly Declaration, and the outcome of the 1st African Fiscal Policy Forum on inequalities
in taxing rights, jointly organized by CoDA and South Centre. The meeting underscored the importance of the work of the HLP, welcomed the coherent African response to the challenges of IFFs, and the need for AU Member States to actively participate in the ongoing national assessment processes. Regarding the 1^st African Fiscal Policy Forum, the Panel shared the concerns of African and other developing countries with respect to the challenges of the international tax reform processes. Accordingly, the HLP encouraged the CoDA Technical Committee on Domestic Resource Mobilization to continue the dialogue series to enable African Countries to make informed decisions.

Furthermore, the HLP welcomed the ongoing efforts of the various Working Groups, namely:

Working Group of the Trust Fund to support the Implementation of the IFF Agenda (constituted in response to the AU Special Declaration on IFFs – Assembly/AU/Decl.5 (XXIV) currently co-chaired by the HLP and CoDA Board (Barrister Akere Muna and Prof Abdoulaye Bathily, respectively);

Working Group on the Implementation of the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR) currently co-chaired by H.E. Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs and Peace & Security of the AU and Hon. Jean Louis Andriamifidy, Chair of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AU-ABC); and

Working Group on the National Level Responses and Governance of Natural Resources, led by Hon. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, former Minister for Finance for Malawi, in accordance with the HLP findings and recommendations, which is supported by the APRM.