Following dirty money

Government’s decision to introduce additional legislation to bolster the fight against money laundering in Trinidad and Tobago is not necessarily at odds with the statement last week by Central Bank Governor, Ewart Williams, that he was not aware of any important cases of money laundering here. The decision, announced by Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Conrad Enill, should not seen as being as in conflict with Williams’ position. As Williams told a conference of regional banking suoervisors last week, the financial system was being used increasingly to fund criminal activity. “It’s not secret that money laundering through the banking system is on the rise and it’s no secret that it’s something that could destabalise the banking system,” he said.

Even if the Central Bank says that it  is winning the fight against money laundering because “we are not aware of any important cases,” there should be no room for complacency. Bankers are also aware that money launderers are using more sopohisticated techniques to channel funds  into legitimate business. A new development, however, in which international terrorists have been laundering money to finance their activities, worldwide, has influenced the implementing of the pre-emptive strategy by Government. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the few islands in the Caribbean and the Americas in which offshore banks are not permitted. Many of these offshore banks are used, regrettably, as offshore tax havens and these is a perception that they are used as money-laundering centres. And while relevant Member States of the Caribbean Community of Nations have maintained that their offshore banks are above reproof, yet there are some to which that description cannot readily apply.

Meanwhile, the United States Government, through its Embassy here, regularly has issued to domestic banks the names of persons suspected of being involved in money-laundering and terrorism as a precautionary measure to forestall their opening accounts in these banks. But even as the US does this, a fellow member of the North American Free Trade Area, Mexico, is one of the three majors in the Americas, in which some of the offshore banks launder drug and other corruptly earned money. The other two are Peru and Argentina. The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, even as it monitors deposits at domestic banks to ensure that money-laundering does not become part of the country’s banking landscape should, as a furtherance of this policy, monitor credit unions. Additionally, unusually large investments in cash, whether on the stock market, in mutual funds or with respect to private companies and what have you should come within the monitoring net of the Central Bank to allow it to be as wide ranging as possible.