Eiseb appointed Financial Intelligence Centre director – Windhoek Observer

Staff Writer

BRYAN Eiseb has been appointed as the incoming Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), with his tenure beginning in January next year.

This was revealed by Bank of Namibia (BoN) Governor, Johannes !Gawaxab, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Council, in a media statement yesterday.

The nomination of Eiseb comes at a key juncture, following the 2022 Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation.

Namibia is expected to demonstrate its ability to prevent and combat money laundering as well as the financing of terrorist and proliferation funding operations, according to the statement.

As a result, the number of successful investigations and prosecutions of those who commit high-risk money laundering and other profit-generating crimes will demonstrate the country’s success in combating money laundering crimes.

!Gawaxab said Eiseb’s appointment was made in compliance with the Financial Intelligence Act 13 of 2012, making him the FIC’s second Director since its inception in 2007.

He stated that the FIC prevents money laundering by registering, monitoring, and supervising responsible and reporting institutions designated by the FIA to guarantee effective compliance with anti-money laundering and other crime prevention measures.

“The FIA-mandated AML/CFT/CPF prevention measures effectively protect accountable and reporting institutions from ML/TF/PF abuse. Where abuse is suspected, these institutions must file suspicious transaction and suspicious activity reports with the FIC, allowing the FIC to provide timely actionable intelligence to law enforcement and other agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of all profit-generating crimes and ML/TF/PF.

“Eiseb’s extensive experience in law enforcement, combined with experience and a large network within the criminal justice system, as well as his previous role as Director of Exchange Control and Legal Services at the Bank of Namibia, made him the ideal candidate to lead Namibia’s financial intelligence unit,” said !Gawaxab.

Eiseb holds an LLM (Corporate Law) from UNISA, an LLB (Hons), and a B. Juris from UNAM, as well as a National Diploma in Police Science from the Polytechnic of Namibia.

“He also has a number of executive development qualifications and is a member of the High Court of the Republic of Namibia. He is currently on engaged at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, a role that will end in November 2023,” !Gawaxab explained.