FID ‘quietly successful’ at tracking financial misdeeds
Published:Tuesday | October 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMMcPherse Thompson/ Assistant Editor - Business
The plan to make the Financial Investigations Division (FID), which is currently part of the Ministry of Finance & the Public Service, into a department with greater budgetary and human resources capacity and autonomy is critical to giving the agency the operational leeway in expanding investigations that may involve other domestic and overseas partners.
Minister without portfolio in the finance ministry, Fayval Williams, says the move, which was first announced earlier this year, is meant to fit with international best practices.
She said FID is quietly garnering success in using the tools available under the Proceeds of Crime Act to restrain and recover proceeds of crime, noting that recent cases include large cash seizures and significant civil recoveries.
Last month, the FID launched its goAML reporting platform, which allows the financial sector to make their suspicious transaction reports electronically.
Williams said the software will allow for better data mining to assess the major money-laundering trends and typologies taking place in the jurisdiction. It will also help the FID to assess and sift through the more than 300,000 suspicious transaction reports made annually.
Other measures currently being employed include the appointment of receivers to administer seized properties and the assessment of pecuniary penalties post-conviction, said Williams, while addressing the seventh annual Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) conference, a two-day event that ends today, Wednesday.
"No doubt the progress in this particular area formed the basis for the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) rating Jamaica as substantially effective in the area of confiscation measures," she said.
CFTAF HIGHLIGHTS
Jamaica completed its CFATF mutual evaluation in 2015 and, according to the state minister, the report highlighted areas in need of additional work, as well as pointed to areas of progress.
Jamaica's efforts in confiscating the proceeds of crimes
were assessed as substantially effective, whereas understanding the risks to the State's security systems, the use of financial intelligence to combat money laundering and other serious crimes, and supervisory measures applied to the financial sector were assessed as moderately effective.
Key areas of weakness were identified in the investigation and successful prosecution of money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as the non-profit sector and dealing with proliferation issues.
Based on a number of instruments to which Jamaica is a signatory, as well as international best practices, national laws are structured to deal with the various approaches to money laundering and financing of terrorism.
"However, various resource constraints - human, financial - mean that implementation of the various best practices has to be done in a structured or phased approach based on an assessment of the key risks facing the jurisdiction," Williams said.
On that basis, the Jamaican authorities are currently undertaking a national AML/CFT and anti-corruption risk assessment to identify key threats and vulnerabilities which can assist the Government in prioritising its limited resources in addressing the most prominent risks.
The Bank of Jamaica and FID are overseeing the risk assessment, the finalisation of which Williams admitted "is some way down the road".
However, she said that reforming and strengthening Jamaica's AML-CFT framework is not only predicated on international compliance but also on addressing the country's crime issues.
"What is clear is that the approach of our authorities in taking the profit out of crime by increased confiscation activity is a fundamental plank in this fight," the state minister said.
She said that as countries like Jamaica and others in the region continue to utilise the CFATF and other forums to present concerns on de-risking and other issues, it was critical that they actively engage in and influence discussions to ensure that the concerns of small states are taken into account.
Jamaica has named Williams to head its CFAFT delegation.