Criminals in the C’bean keeping profits from illegal activities

In several of the regional nations, no assets have been seized from persons who have engaged in criminal activities, thereby enabling these criminals to hang on to the assets that they would have gained as a result of these activities.

 

So says the Organization of American States (OAS) Representative for Barbados, Francis McBarnette who stated that economic crime, especially money laundering is a result of detailed and carefully planned and executed methods that have been utilized by these criminals and one of the primary ways that governments can put an end to these types of criminal activities is by taking a hold of the assets that they would have made.

 

“The characteristics of economic crime, in particular money laundering, require the use of complex financial mechanisms by organized crime to disguise the origin, destination and flow of assets. In the fight against international organized crime and terrorism, asset confiscation which deprives criminals of assets used or acquired through illegal activities, is one of the most important means of deterring criminal activity.”

 

In order to do this, many places across the globe have instituted various legislative frameworks with respect to confiscation and changing the legislation for crimes such as money laundering. Yet, this is not enough as the law enforcement and other key stakeholders must process the required skills and knowledge to be able to utilize these things, said the OAS Representative.

 

“To facilitate the confiscation of such assets many countries have recently implemented confiscation laws, changing the legal and operational landscape of money laundering investigations to better respond to innovative and evolving forms of crime. These new legislative instruments, however, can only be of use if key-actors involved in investigations have the knowledge and skills to put them into practice.”

 

Speaking at the Criminal Assets Recovery Workshop under the theme of ‘Initiative to Establish an Asset Recovery Inter-agency Network (ARIN) in the Caribbean Region’ at the Courtyard by Marriott recently, McBarnette stated that crime presents an obstacle to progress in the region and by not seizing the assets that these criminals make from their activities, we are allowing them to further invest in more criminal activity.

 

 This only adds to more problems as young people who see this may be tempted to follow along the same path, he said.

 

“Corruption, crime and violence deter inward investment and hinder development in the region, and although the majority of jurisdictions have had ‘proceeds of crime’ legislation since the early 1990s, they have rarely been used.  In many Caribbean countries no assets have been confiscated. We are therefore allowing criminals to retain the vast ‘profits’ from their illegal activities and allowing them to invest in further criminality and associated violence. It is to be noted that the display of wealth by known criminals have a less that positive on our communities and impressionable youth.”