The government has published new regulations on targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism, terror financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing.
The development comes after the country set up a Financial Intelligence Centre to strengthen the capacity to prevent, combat, criminalise money laundering and terror financing.
According to a new legal instrument recently published in the national gazette, the financial crimes will be handled by the national counter-terrorism committee, which is made up of members of three ministries namely justice, foreign affairs as well as finance and economic planning.
This committee will be the one to design suspects to be added on the domestic list, which is a list of terrorists and their financiers that will be published on the Justice Ministry’s website.
"Anyone who has committed, financed or supported a terrorism act is liable to be featured on the list,” the regulation says.
The gazette also stipulates that those suspected of illegally selling, supplying, transferring or facilitating access to arms will be added to the list.
After designation, the domestic list will be published on the Justice Ministry’s website and the designated person is notified, with the right to appeal.
"A designated person who is not satisfied with the decision taken against them may file an appeal for reconsideration in 15 days after being notified they are on the list,” reads the gazette.
Upon getting the request, continues the gazette, the committee may delist that person once it determines they no longer meet the criteria for designation.
Sanctions stipulated
Upon being listed on the domestic list, the gazette has set grounds for sanctions to apply with immediate effect including seizing the designated person’s funds and assets.
"The centre makes an order to seize or freeze the funds or other assets of a designated person, held indirectly or directly, by an institution or a person acting on behalf of the designated person,” the regulations stipulate.
The designated person is also prohibited to make any transactions with the seized assets and funds, with an exemption of third parties and daily living expenses.
"The rights of the third party are respected once they have not been involved in the financial crimes,” indicates the official gazette. "The designated person is not allowed to withdraw or transact, but money to cover the necessary living expenses for survival can be spared.”
Experts speak out
Innocent Muramira, a lawyer, says that these regulations come to enforce the measures put in place to curb financial crimes.
"These technical regulations were long overdue because financial crime offenders are highly skilled technicians, so we also needed technical provisions that go deeper to address the vice,” he told The New Times in a telephone interview.
The second reason why these laws were long overdue, adds Muramira, is we are in an era of technology, when most of the crimes (money laundering included) have shifted to the internet, but in the last decades, money laundering was not an issue at all.
Dr Claude Rusibana, an economic analyst and lecturer at University of Kigali, also envisions plenty of changes why the new provisions had to be put in place.
"Once money laundering is tackled, there will be decent use of available funds in the development projects and will empower the population’s economic empowerment,” he exemplifies.
It will also attract foreign investors, says Rusibana, as trust among the population is recovered once there is a stable financial flow in the country’s economy.
"Moreover, there will be a stable exchange currency rate and high-level monitoring of financial crimes because different institutions will be working together to address the vice,” he explains, citing that tax evasion which is the most prevalent financial crime will also be curbed.