US hits UNC over Bill

THE United States Government’s Department of State has criticised the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) for obstructing new laws that would seize the assets of terrorists. The criticism came in the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2005, which was compiled before the recent passage in the TT House of Representatives of the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2004, or “An act to criminalise terrorism, to provide for the detection, prevention, prosecution, conviction and punishment of terrorist activities and the confiscation, forfeiture and seizure of terrorists’ assets.”  The legislation is now before the Senate.

The UNC voted against the Bill saying it breached constitutional civil rights, and they further vowed to ask the law courts to strike it down as unconstitutional, as it had not received a special majority of Parliament. But the US State Department criticised the Opposition: “Some loopholes exist that allow (drug) traffickers and supporters/financiers of terrorists and terrorist organisations to shield their assets. Opposition party intransigence has stalled legislation that was specifically aimed at criminalising terrorism financing, but Parliament will debate this bill again in 2005.”

The State Department urged the TT Government to boost both its laws and its actions against money laundering and terrorist financing. “Trinidad and Tobago should enact suspicious transaction reporting requirements and expand coverage of the laws to include intermediaries, such as attorneys and accountants, and exchange houses.” Trinidad and Tobago, they urged, should also become a party to the UN International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and criminalise terrorist financing. The State Department noted: “There has not yet been any evidence of terrorist financing in TT.”

The report compared the harm caused by drug money, locally and in the US. “Drug money continues to support the importation of illegal arms into the country. “Trinidad and Tobago’s financial institutions are not known to engage in currency transactions involving international drug-trafficking proceeds that significantly affect the United States.”  The State Department lauded the fact that the TT Government has in place legislation to trace, freeze, and seize assets including bank accounts, after due process.

“Since January 1, 2003, the Government of TT has conducted 189 financial investigations, and has issued seven production orders and eight foreign intelligence requests.” The US report gave mixed remarks on TT’s place in the international drug trade. TT is not a drug producer but a transit point for South American drugs — cocaine, marijuana and heroin — to the US and Europe. “While the drugs entering the US from Trinidad and Tobago do not have a significant effect on the US market, their steady entry into the US occupies the resources of the transportation and law enforcement systems,” the report said.

The report praised the cooperation between the US and TT in combating the drug trade. The TT Government has improved its Extradition Act. In addition, the TT Government funded teams from the US Customs and the US Inland Revenue Service, plus the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. But despite the report seeming to praise TT, it also noted shortcomings.