Namibia Installas Anti-Money Laundering Tool goAML

Anti money-laundering technology created by UN agency installed in Namibia

24 July 2008 – Information technology designed to help countries fight crimes such as money-laundering and the financing of terrorism has been installed at Namibia’s Financial Intelligence Centre with the help the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The software, called “goAML,” was created by UNODC to help financial intelligence and law enforcement agencies step up their fight against organized crime. The tool is also designed to be a low cost, off-the-shelf solution for developing countries that could not otherwise afford to develop such systems.

According to UNODC, industry experts put the cost of similar software between $3 and $6 million on the open market. Meanwhile, “goAML” is supplied free of charge, with installation and licensing costs at about $200,000.

At the request of Namibia’s National Bank, the new software will be used to process, analyse and report suspicious money transactions in line with domestic anti-money-laundering laws and regulations.

• The software can analyze large volumes of data and help identify and understand complex patterns of financial transactions.
• It also aims to introduce an element of standardization in gathering and processing financial intelligence information worldwide, with the aim of making international cooperation easier in the fight against financial crime.

UNODC says the software will be installed in Pristina, Kosovo, next month and that the 108-member Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is planning to test and evaluate it.

Original @ -The UN NEws Centre

China Loan's 1 Billion $ to Namibia to Buy Software

The government will engage a Chinese software company to install an electronic management system for the public service.

Cabinet approved that the Office of the Prime Minister could secure funding under a concessional loan agreement signed last month between China and Namibia during the state visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao for the implementation of an Electronic Documentation and Records Management System (EDRMS) across the public service.

This is viewed as a critical project in terms of existing e-governance policy directives.
China offered over N$1 billion as a loan for projects to be identified by Namibia.
The EDRMS project team evaluated various appropriate software solutions and found that the system offered by Chinese outfit CA-China SS Software Technology would be best suited for the requirements of the Namibian public service.
"The system is not only government user friendly, but also offers easy-to-use interfaces and robust application software that will link up with already familiar public service platforms to ensure records and archival compliance," Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told reporters last week.

Cabinet therefore endorsed the EDRMS under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister on condition that it complies with tender procedures.

Cabinet instructed the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission to discuss the conditions, terms, modality of accessing the preferential loan and credit facility to finance the EDRMS and other priority projects in Namibia with the Chinese Government.

Cabinet also granted approval for the arrangement of the grant and the use of the concessional loans for the EDRMS project by the Export-Import Bank of China, subject to concurrence by the Chinese Government.

The company CA-CSS is a joint venture formed by New York-based commercial software associates (CA) and China National Computer Software & Technology Service Corporation (CS&S). The primary goal of the joint venture was to explore the potential presented by the Chinese software market by leveraging the resources and expertise from both parties.