The Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi, has appointed board members for the Financial Intelligence Centre, to be chaired by Charmaine Van Der Westhuizen for a fixed term of five years.
Hilya Herman, Pendukeni Filippus, and Lydia Eksteen were also appointed to the board in terms of section 16A of the Financial Intelligence Act, 2012 (Act No. 13 of 2012), as amended.
This comes as Bryan Eiseb was appointed as the second Director of the FIC since its establishment in 2007, in January.
Eiseb took over the role, which became vacant in December 2021 following the appointment of Leonie Dunn as the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN).
The FIC serves as Namibia’s national center responsible for various functions, including those related to the Financial Intelligence Unit and the prevention and combating of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing (ML/TF/PF) activities under the AML/CFT/CPF framework.
Under the Financial Intelligence Act, 2023 (FIA), the FIC’s primary responsibility is to uphold the integrity of the Namibian financial system by preventing the misuse of the system for ML/TF/PF activities. By executing this mandate effectively, the FIC contributes to the stability and credibility of the financial system.