Section 13, Terrorism Act, 2012

(1) Subject to this Act the Unit– (a) shall receive reports made under sections 41, 42 and subsection (6) of section 68 and information provided to the Unit by any agency of another country that has power and duties similar to those of the Unit; (b) may request and obtain any information that it considers relevant to an unlawful activity, money laundering activities or financing of terrorism and that is publicly available, including commercially available databases or information that is collected, or maintained or stored in databases, maintained by Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies; (c) may request and obtain information from reporting entities, supervisory authorities or any law enforcement agency for the purposes of this Act; (d) may receive information voluntarily provided by a competent authority or Government institution or agency about suspicions of an unlawful activity, a money laundering offence or an offence of financing of terrorism; (e) shall carry out and participate in examinations of reporting entities prescribed in section 52; Oath of secrecy. Funds of Unit. Functions and powers of Unit. Accounts and audit. Financial year of Unit. Annual report. 20 21 (f) shall send any information it receives from a report or any other information to the appropriate law enforcement agency and supervisory authorities if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction is suspicious; (g) may instruct a reporting entity to take such steps as may be appropriate in relation to any information or report received by the Unit, to enforce compliance with this Act or to facilitate any investigation anticipated by the Unit; (h) shall compile statistics and records and may disseminate information within Sierra Leone or elsewhere; (i) shall make recommendations arising out of any information received; (j) after consulting supervisory authorities, shall issue guidelines to reporting entities on antimoney laundering and combating the financing of terrorism issues; (k) may obtain further information on parties or transactions referred to in a report made to it; (l) may provide training programs for reporting entities in anti money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism issues and related matters; (m) may periodically provide feedback to reporting entities and other relevant agencies regarding outcomes relating to the reports or information given under this Act; (n) shall conduct research into trends and developments in money laundering and financing of terrorism and improved ways of detecting, preventing and determining money laundering and the financing of terrorism activities; (o) may inform and educate the public on matters relating to money laundering and financing (p) may disclose any report or information derived from the report or received from elsewhere to an institution or agency of a foreign state or an international organization established by Governments of foreign states, if on the basis of its analysis and assessment it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the report or information will be relevant to investigating or prosecuting a money laundering or terrorist financing offence; (q) may extend assistance to other countries on property tracking, monitoring and confiscation orders; (r) may require a competent authority to report progress and outcome on matters it refers to the authority; (s) may enter into agreements with public institutions on the exchange of information on money laundering or financing of terrorism; (t) may perform such other functions as are provided in this Act. 22 23 (2) The Unit shall keep any information obtained under paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (1) confidential. (3) The Unit may enter the premises of a reporting Agency during business hours to inspect any record kept under section 41 and may ask questions relating to the record, make notes or copies of the record