The Angolan National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels and the Angolan Financial Information Unit signed this Thursday a protocol of cooperation in the fight against crimes related to money laundering, corruption and the illicit trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.
The cooperation protocol signed in Luanda establishes “mechanisms and requirements for the exchange of information on the oil sector with the aim of promoting a framework of best practices and legal assumptions in force in Angola in the fight against money laundering, corruption and arms trafficking.” mass destruction.”
The agreement also aims to “strengthen the organizational culture of the national concessionaire, highlighting the importance of cooperation and coordination between national and international organizations in order to improve control mechanisms and transparency in the oil sector,” the National Oil Company said in a statement. Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG).
It is also “a tool that includes processes to raise awareness and train staff on issues related to imprisonment for financial crimes that jeopardize territorial integrity.”
According to Angolan Secretary of State for Petroleum José Barroso, who was present at the signing of the protocol, “cooperation and exchange of information between the parties will encourage and contribute to better management of the national oil sector and the financial resources it generates.”
“The oil sector, given its specific interaction with international structures and the fact that it is a strategic sector for the country, must maintain constant and ongoing institutional alignment with strategic structures such as the Financial Information Unit (UIF), in order to increase the level of confidence in the sector “, – he said.
In turn, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANPG Paulino Geronimo said that “promoting Angola’s hydrocarbon potential must go hand in hand with the development and implementation of compliance models that ensure efficiency and legality of activities. , as well as a significant improvement in results within the country’s existing legal framework on this issue.”
UIF Director Gilberto Capesa stated that “although the oil sector is not part of the architecture of the national system for preventing and combating money laundering, the results of the national risk assessment between 2017 and 2019 indicate potential compliance risks in the oil sector.”
“This conclusion has led, by mutual agreement, to the signing of this protocol with ANPG to facilitate the timely and regular exchange of information between the parties and to increasingly promote best practices in the sector and among all companies and officials operating in the oil industry. in Angola,” he said.