The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in partnership with the Regional Security System (RSS) is hosting a five-day workshop to build capacity among the region’s judiciary in AML/CFT/CPF: anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing.
The training is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and runs from 28 July to 1 August at the St Kitts Marriott Resort.
Chief Director (Policy), D Tracy Polius, PhD said the workshop—which aims to strengthen the integrity of the financial and legal systems within the ECCU—comes against the backdrop of the results of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) fourth round of mutual evaluations.
“While most of our member countries were assessed as having compliant or largely compliant legislative frameworks, none of our member countries were found to have effective processes to ensure that money laundering and terrorist financing offences are investigated and prosecuted with the implementation of effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. This less than stellar performance has clearly been reflected by the results on the Immediate Outcomes 7, 8, and 9,” the Chief Director (Policy) said at the Opening Ceremony.
The FATF’s Immediate Outcomes 7, 8, and 9 relate to Money Laundering Investigations and Prosecutions; Confiscation; and Terrorist Financing Investigations and Prosecutions, respectively.
Workshop participants include judges, magistrates, senior crown counsels, crown counsels, prosecutors and financial investigators from OECS member countries. They will receive practical exposure to investigative and prosecutorial processes aimed at improving their understanding of the legal and operational elements of AML/CFT/CPF. The four areas of focus are (i) the current AML/CFT/CPF legal framework within the region; (ii) financial investigations and asset recovery processes; (iii) understanding the current and emerging money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing trends; and (iv) international obligations under the FATF Standards.
Director of the Asset Recovery Unit of the RSS, Kisha T. Sutherland, said in her remarks that, “Failure to do our part as responsible actors in the international system would be detrimental to our development prospectus—a hypothesis that only becomes too real when some of our neighbouring states face the economic and financial consequences of grey and blacklisting. Equally, the consequences of lackadaisical participation in the global thrust to address illicit financing may also be realised in the emergence of unjust and lawless communities, fuelled by lucrativeness of organised crime.”
The Director of the Regional Security System’s Asset Recovery Unit further stated that, in an effort to maintain financial credibility and counter transnational organised crime, the RSS has carefully curated its AML/CFT/CPF programme to support its member states in effectively complying with rudimentary AML/CFT standards. She added that the workshop organised by the ECCB features a component of the RSS’s AML/CFT/CPF programme, and representatives of the RSS delegation will share insights with participants on, among other things, the international obligations of ECCU countries and the emerging risks to financial systems in the Caribbean.
