United Kingdom – To strengthen West Africa’s battle against organized and transnational crimes, Edwin W. Harris, Jr., Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), has asked for more support and closer international collaboration.
Speaking at the 42nd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crimes in the United Kingdom, the anti-money laundering specialist, who was born in Liberia, described the advancements and ongoing difficulties that law enforcement organizations in the subregion are confronting.
Harris presented a paper titled “Police Force to Police Force Cooperation: The Limits of the Law,” outlining how states are now forced to rely on both official and informal channels of cooperation due to the blurring of borders caused by globalization, financial crimes, terrorism financing, and organized criminal networks.
According to Harris, there are many examples where evidence may be found in other jurisdictions as a result of the economic and financial criminal industry’s rapid globalization. “These days, we see a rise in requests for help from other nations to gather evidence from overseas for use in domestic criminal investigations and prosecutions.”
With its porous borders and increasing digital connectivity, West Africa continues to be especially vulnerable to transnational criminal syndicates involved in money laundering, drug trafficking, human smuggling, arms selling, cybercrime, and terrorism financing, according to the GIABA DG.
These crimes jeopardize democratic governance and security in addition to depleting public income and weakening economies. Law enforcement officials frequently deal with instances where crucial evidence, bank records, witness statements, or digital communications may be found in foreign nations, Harris reminded the delegates. Since countries cannot effectively combat crime on their own, international collaboration has emerged as a key component of criminal justice systems.
Police and prosecutors have two main options, Harris stressed: formal Cooperation through Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA). This is used to describe formal requests made from one government to another that are governed by bilateral agreements, treaties, or protocols.
When coercive measures like production orders, search warrants, or witness summonses are needed, MLA is important. Informal cooperation through police-to-police channels is also key. These are direct communications, frequently quicker and less formal, between law enforcement authorities. When evidence needs to be gathered quickly or when political sensitivities could cause government-level procedures to lag, police-to-police collaboration is essential Harris noted.
GIABA DG emphasized that although they are complementary, the two channels are not interchangeable. Police-to-police collaboration frequently offers agility and immediacy, while MLA provides the legal force required to enforce compliance.
Harris pointed out a number of drawbacks that make depending on MLA dangerous in some situations, despite the fact that it is still a vital component of international collaboration. The legal and constitutional obstacles that come with official cooperation were shown by case studies in Canada and the UK, he said.
In the 2020 Canadian case of Rajaratnam, four people accused of human smuggling successfully contested the use of MLA-based evidence on constitutional grounds. The convictions followed the courts’ ruling that the evidence infringed upon due process and the right to a fair trial.
The UK Supreme Court upheld the idea that domestic laws have no extraterritorial force in the case of KBR Ltd. (UK, 2017–2021), ruling that the Serious Fraud Office could not order a foreign firm to surrender papers stored abroad.
Language difficulties and operational delays, lengthy bureaucratic processes, incomplete or poorly prepared requests, disparities in national legal frameworks, a lack of resources, and subpar responses are some of the other challenges mentioned.
Police-to-police collaboration has grown in importance in response to these difficulties. According to Harris’ historical analysis of the development of international police, professional policing institutions free from political control emerged in the 20th century, whereas cooperation in the 19th century was mostly political.
The International Criminal Police Commission, which was established in 1923 and renamed INTERPOL in 1956, as well as the development of specialized regional policing organizations like EUROPOL in Europe, SAARC Police Mechanisms in South Asia, SARPCCO in Southern Africa, and EAPCCO in East Africa, were among the significant turning points.
In Africa, the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) has been a part of ECOWAS since 2003, and AFRIPOL was established under the African Union. According to Harris, these platforms have enabled police agencies to more efficiently exchange information, hunt down individuals, and stop crimes from happening across borders.
The program WAPIS, which was started in 2012 by ECOWAS, the European Union, and INTERPOL, received a lot of Harris’ attention. WAPIS is a centralized, secure database that enables real-time registration, archiving, and sharing of criminal records among member states.
More than 700,000 digitized records are currently stored in the system, which offers intelligence on a variety of topics, including organized crime networks, counterfeit travel and identity documents, stolen cars and weapons, and suspected offenders. Harris referred to the formal transfer of ownership of the system from INTERPOL and the EU to ECOWAS in April 2025 as a “strategic shift” in the security environment of the region.
Harris cautioned that unless ECOWAS member nations increase their funding for WAPIS’s sustainability, the program could be underutilized despite its achievements. He urged national governments to establish national ownership by integrating WAPIS into domestic law enforcement strategies, maintain partnerships with donor agencies and international actors like INTERPOL and EUROPOL, and provide adequate budgetary support for technology and training. Regular assessments should also be carried out to measure impact and identify gaps.
Harris’s tenure as GIABA’s leader is an expression of pride for Liberia. His comments at Cambridge highlight the crucial position that a Liberian technocrat currently plays in influencing the conversation about continental and international security.
