“These flows, illicitly acquired and channelled out of the continent, continue to pose a development challenge to the region, as they upend domestic resources which could have been crucial for the  continent’s development,” the Ashanti Regional Director of EOCO, Edward Cudjoe, said.

He was speaking at the opening of a two-day training on ‘Illicit financial flows and progressive taxation’ for 20 journalists selected from the Eastern and Volta region in Akosombo, last Monday.

The training, supported by OXFAM Ghana and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, was to equip the participants with a deeper understanding on illicit financial flows and associated offences, as well as the methodologies adopted by the offenders.

The training was also meant to provide the journalists with the legal and regulatory regime with respect to illicit financial flows in Ghana, and expose them to international organisations in the forefront of reducing such flows.

Mr Cudjoe said between 1980 and 2018, for instance, sub-Saharan Africa received nearly $12 trillion in foreign direct investment and official assistance but emitted more than $1 trillion out of the continent in illicit financial flows.

As of 2015, Africa had lost approximately $50 billion annually over the years to illicit financial flows, in a trend influenced by corruption, tax evasion, trade mispricing and the exploitation of natural resources, he revealed.

That, Mr Cudjoe said that led to increased poverty, stunted economic growth, and underfunded public service among the people.

“Money laundering is one of the common strategies used to disguise the illicit origins of money to make it appear legitimate and this is done through investments in businesses, real estate or financial instruments, to make the fund look clean” he added.

The Ashanti Regional Director of EOCO said in Ghana, the mining sector, particularly artisanal and smal scale mining, was largely unsupervised and that made it attractive to criminals, which was the reason artisanal small scale gold exports were not linked to production sources, with no comprehensive data on those behind the illicit gold exports.

He maintained journalists played a critical role in exposing illicit financial flows, particularly through investigative reporting by leveraging on big data and analysing leaked documents, financial records, and corporate data.

In a presentation on domestic revenue mobilisation, the Executive Director Gran Tax Youth Africa (GTYA), a non-governmental organisation, Nii Addo said it was important the government ensured a transparent tax collection and spending, adding citizens needed to see their taxes were funding tangible improvement in their daily lives.