International relations and ECOWAS policy analyst, E.K Bensah Jnr., has proposed concerted discussions to find ways of dealing with money laundering proceeds amongst member states of West Africa since most of it is channeled into real estates.

His proposal comes on the back of a three-day meeting of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in Accra.

There have been calls on ECOWAS member states to strengthen legal and other institutions to enable them combat cross-border crime, particularly money laundering.

But Mr Bensah, speaking to Class News, said a concerted discussion among member states can be a step to dealing with the problem.

He said: “The people who benefit from these kinds of money go into real estate because real estate is a sector that is difficult to track. If we are able to follow the money and find out where the money goes, we will also able to stop the source of smuggling…

“Some research suggests that some of these properties are built with laundered money and so to be able to deal with it, there needs to be a concerted conversation with law enforcement, financial intelligence units all over, and not just in West Africa. So these are the kinds of things that are going on but using technology and specialised law enforcement agencies like Interpol and so on and so forth, we may be able to help nip this in the bud.”