$28M stolen from Piarco

THE INTENSITY of crime has been increasing in Trinidad and Tobago, including white collar crime, over the last ten years, according to AG Glenda Morean who said that thus far, $28 million had been corruptly stolen from the Piarco Airport project. “Although the final accounting is not yet in, I am informed that so far $28 million corruptly stolen from the Piarco Airport Development Project was launderised in the local and international financial system,” the AG told businesspeople at a breakfast seminar on money laundering organised by the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce at Cara Suites and Conference Centre, Claxton Bay. Morean added that the fight “against crime is not just the business of the law enforcement officials or the Ministry of National Security, but also of conscientious citizens and organisations such as yours in sensitising the public on issues of crime of which money laundering represents a significant aspect.”

The AG spoke of Government’s position as far as the laws relating to money laundering were concerned and said that “given recent reports of multi-million dollar electronic wire transfers from local companies across international borders involving countries as far flung as Latvia and the former Yugoslav Republic, it is clear the government and the country at large, including both the public and private sector especially the banking community, face a very serious problem.” “The picture is the same across the region and the world. The proliferation of weapons, which is an inevitable consequence of the international criminal activity, leads to the kind of violence which we are now experiencing and which we are committed to eradicating,” the AG said. Morean stressed, “That is why it is so important to tackle the issue of money laundering since by doing so we attack the profitability of the criminal network whether they be drug pushers, kidnappers or other players in the vast criminal conspiracy that threatens our society. Make no bones about it, the drug problem will be with us for years to come so we must intensify and sustain our efforts at containing this menace to  society.”

She explained that, “it is for this reason that successive governments have considered the issue of money laundering so serious that they have moved to enact stringent legislation to tackle the problem while accessing assistance from organisations like the Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering Programme and the Financial Action Task Force.” “We recognise that money laundering is also a feature of the international terrorist network and as such have included provisions to treat terrorism financing in the new anti-terrorism bill which went for public comment some weeks ago,” the AG said.
She said that to date, $8 million have been confiscated from drug traffickers “and although the final accounting is not yet in, I am informed that so far 28 million dollars corruptly stolen from the Piarco Airport Development Project was launderised in the local and international financial system.”