TT, Liberia in crime fight

The signing ceremony last Friday came at the end of a four day visit by the Liberian officials.

In a statement at the signing ceremony at the FIU’s office in Tower D at the International Waterfront Centre, Port-of- Spain, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Susan Francois, said although Liberia is far from this country, “crime knows no borders” and in today’s world criminal networks operate on a global scale.

She said the statement is “particularly apt when we consider the serious crimes of trafficking in persons; drugs and weapons; corruption; money laundering and the movement of criminally obtained money through wire transfers, across borders, in a split second.” She added that, “Terrorism and the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters who travel from their home country, including from Trinidad and Tobago, to Syria and Iraq, are also receiving global and national attention.” She said just as crime knows no borders, information must also flow seamlessly across borders between intelligence and law enforcement agencies to solve crimes and bring those who commit them to justice.

She added financial intelligence units were set up facilitate this flow of information between countries and to overcome the obstacles which prevent cross-border information sharing on criminal activity.

Francois said the local FIU has already signed 21 MoUs with foreign FIUs, eight of them with FIUs outside the Caribbean including in Australia; Canada; South Africa and Colombia.

Last year the FIU received 25 requests for information from foreign jurisdictions and made 38 requests of its own, most of these to FIUs within the Caribbean and the others to FIUs in North America and Europe.

She said the local FIU sent 39 intelligence reports to foreign jurisdictions where it found a link with that country after the analysis of a suspicious transaction report.

Alex Cuffy, the Director of the FIU of Liberia, said although there are many other countries in West Africa, Trinidad and Tobago presented “a good appetite for Liberia” and he and his team were able to gather a lot of information about this country and when contacted the Trinidad and Tobago FIU was very receptive.