(Trinidad Express) A whopping TT$638,844,310 in alleged “dirty money” transactions have reportedly passed through the country’s financial system over the past year, the 2012 Report of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIUTT) has stated.
For the period October 2011 to September 2012, 258 Suspicious Transfer Reports (STRs) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) were flagged by “supervised entities” and “banking institutions” which reported the highest alleged money laundering activity for the period under review, with 154 reports.
The report also noted the highest suspicious activities took place between April and June 2012 when the highest amount of suspicious money totalling TT$2,393,548 entered the system.
There was also an increase in suspicious reports from 2010 and 2011, through co-operative societies, motor vehicle sales, security dealers and insurance companies, according to the report.
In 2010, there were 111 suspicious activity while in 2011 there were 303 as reported by the financial sector.
And in terms of money value, in 2010, TT$263 million was red-flagged to the FIUTT while in 2011 that figure rose to TT$569 million.
But despite the high presence of questionable activity reported to the FIUTT of people misusing the financial systems to launder money, only one person has been arrested and charged for engaging in fraudulent behaviour over the past year, according to expert in the field of extradition and money laundering laws, attorney David West.
West, who is based at El Dorado Chambers, Port of Spain, told the Sunday Express that except for the case of travel agent Vicki Boodram of Boodram’s Travel and Ship Ahoy Cruises Ltd, who was arrested and now faces multiple fraud charges, white collar crime is continuing unchecked in Trinidad and Tobago.
Pointing to a correlation between street crime and white-collar crime, West believes money laundering is fuelling the increase in crime and that the battle against the escalating violence on the streets and in communities must also include prosecutions of white-collar crime.
He urged: “The increase in criminality must be looked at from the perspectives of white-collar crime as well. It is not just about the poor man in Laventille with a gun but about the money laundering which is taking place.
“It is as simple as this … whenever a gun is bought the money from that sale is then sent to the financial institutions to be cleaned up and legitimised.”
West, a former interim head of the FIUTT and former head of the Central Authority for Extradition and Mutual Assistance at the Office of the Attorney General, was particularly critical of the Financial Investigations Bureau (FIB)—the body responsible for charging and prosecuting white-collar crimes.
He said the FIB has been unusually dormant in the fight against white-collar crime.
West said: “The FIB’s number of prosecutions has diminished; the only case is Vicky Boodram’s.”
He questioned if the Bureau headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson had sufficient manpower and was sufficiently trained to handle the extent of the “dirty money” circulating in the country.
“They need to do a better job. They need to be more vigilant and effective in addressing this issue,” West said.
From October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012, 25 intelligence reports were sent to the law enforcement agencies by the FIUTT, 14 of which were sent to the FIB, eight to the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR), two to Customs and Excise and one to the Immigration Division.
Those sent to Deputy Commissioner Richardson to investigate and prosecute involved suspicious activities around drugs and narco trafficking as well as fraud-related offences, while those sent to the BIR involved tax-related offences.
West, who is one of the few certified anti money laundering specialists in the country, said currently there are 31 matters submitted to the FIB for investigation, which include suspicious activity from 2010 and 2011 that are still awaiting investigation and prosecution.
Contacted yesterday, DCP Richardson said: “We do not comment on those reports, those are highly confidential matters and we cannot discuss in the media.”
He also refused to respond to West’s criticisms of his Bureau’s effectiveness.
West is concerned that with no prosecution to show the country’s effectiveness in dealing with white-collar crime, money laundering and terrorist financing activities, it is uncertain whether Trinidad and Tobago will pass its fourth round of evaluation by the Paris-based Financial Task Force (FATF) in 2014.
“The FATF has changed the way it evaluates countries … it has now completed three rounds of mutual evaluations and the fourth round is set to begin mid to late 2014. This time Commonwealth countries will be expected to have implemented the latest version of the 40 recommendations approved in February last year,” West told the Sunday Express.
He said the 40 recommendations were not merely concerned with passing legislation but also with prosecutions.
“It does not appear we understand what the risks are, for instance, casinos are not regulated and therefore their financial activity is not monitored. FATF is concerned with showing enforcement of legislations and prosecutions,” he said.
West believes that Trinidad and Tobago could find itself back on the grey list.
He also criticised what he described as the “unacceptably high rate” of STRs/SARs that have not been fully analysed by the FIUTT.
“When you think of how easy it is to move money across the world in a matter of seconds with just the click of a mouse, “dirty money” can disappear and with it, the chance of confiscation,” he said.
West was of the view that the government was wrong to set up an administrative-type FIU in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Although this type of FIU is preferred by the banking sector to be a “buffer” between the financial institutions and law enforcement sectors there are several disadvantages that we are seeing. For example, there is the delay in applying law enforcement measures, like freezing a suspicious transaction or arresting a suspect on adequate financial disclosure.”
He supported a law enforcement-type of FIU which also had the authority to investigate and prosecute matters.
President of the Bankers Association, David Dulal-Whiteway, could not be reached for comment yesterday with regard to the increase in money laundering activities.
