SA and US will unite on task force to battle illegal game trade, says Janet Yellen

The US treasury department and SA’s Treasury agreed on Wednesday to form a task force to “follow the money” and step up efforts to halt illegal trade in wildlife, says US treasury secretary Janet Yellen.

Speaking at the Dinokeng Game Reserve outside Pretoria, Yellen told SA officials the new group would work to boost information sharing by the countries’ financial intelligence units and to strengthen controls to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Most wildlife poached and trafficked worldwide is destined for China for use in traditional medicines, a US official said. Such trafficking fell sharply at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but began rising again last year.

The Conservation Strategy Fund ranks illegal wildlife trafficking as the world’s fourth-largest internationally organised crime, with yearly revenue of $7bn to $23bn.

According to SA media, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which sets standards on combating money laundering and illicit financing, could add SA to its “grey list” when it meets in February 2023.

Grey-listed countries are subject to greater monitoring by the FATF on concern that they are at higher risk for money laundering and terrorist financing.

“Through closer collaboration to target illicit proceeds linked to wildlife trafficking, as well as overlapping criminal activity like corruption, fraud and drug trafficking, we are taking a step in the right direction today,” Yellen said after touring the game reserve, which has been hit by poachers.

“To help save wildlife populations from further poaching and disrupt the associated illicit trade, we must ‘follow the money’ in the same way we do with other serious crimes,” said Yellen.

Yellen said the US treasury already worked alongside SA with FATF to identify indicators associated with money laundering and wildlife trafficking, but “much more” could be done to crack down on the illegal money flows associated.

This included identifying and seizing the proceeds generated from the illegal wildlife trade and impeding the money laundering and cross-border transactions of transnational criminal organisations often involved in corruption, she said.

“To make an impact against this harmful crime and the illicit financing that accompanies it, we must use this as an opportunity to build a consistent and durable approach,” said Yellen, who was to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa later on Wednesday and top finance officials on Thursday.

SA is the last stop on Yellen’s three-country tour of Africa, part of the Biden administration’s push to deepen US-Africa economic ties and provide a counterweight to China, which has been dominating trade and investment on the continent.

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield is expected in Ghana on Wednesday, starting her three-nation African tour focusing on regional security issues and strengthening food security.

Reuters