Making headway
THIS country has in recent times, using the Proceeds of Crime and Instrumentalities Act, been able to seize and freeze assets where such wealth is unexplained.
So says Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall. He made the comments in the House of Assembly yesterday, as he said that media reports would also show that an increased number of people are being charged with money laundering offences.
Admittedly, Marshall said while Barbados has met some international standards in respect of anti-money laundering, in some areas the country remains deficient, which he said are associated with the “effectiveness side of things” rather than the country’s technical compliance. He made the point while noting that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has given the country two years to improve effectiveness.
“Some of the practical difficulties we have had in effectiveness had to do with our court system. The FATF said well we want to see convictions. Let me be frank, they operate on the misguided assumption that in order to show that you are fighting something, that you must have convictions. Our approach to it is very different. We feel if you are successful in fighting it, then the number of convictions that you should have would be few, because you have successfully fought it... But they are requiring us to establish and give evidence that we have a large number of prosecutions in certain areas,” he stated.
Backlog of cases
But, Marshall explained that the backlog of criminal cases has been a challenge in securing convictions. He said when the Barbados Labour Party came to office in 2018, the quantity of outstanding cases numbered just under 1,000 and dated back to 2007. He said with only two High Court judges doing criminal matters, Government recognised the need to increase the number of judges to help to reduce the backlog.
“Nobody is to say that we appointed judges to satisfy the FATF... We determined that we needed to appoint High Court judges to improve the dispensation of justice in Barbados. We understood the importance of wrestling the number of criminal cases to be tried, to lower digits. But in appointing those High Court judges, we had the spin-off benefit of being able to defend our regime, by saying having appointed additional judges, we can expect to get cases going through the system faster and we have also increased the number of prosecutors,” he stated.
More work needed now
Speaking to the efforts to fully meet the international standards of the FATF, he indicated that Government has engaged some of the best consultants and minds in the world. He said for the last 18 months, the country benefitted from the expertise of such consultants, which was made possible through the generosity of Ross University, through its Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).
“They recognised we had a particular challenge and they came to us early and said, ‘AG, we have some resources that we can make available to you, we want to form a partnership with Barbados. We are here; we are here to stay,” he said.
Marshall said that additional work is now needed and Government has agreed that the country will have the benefit of the same consultants. He said the $850,000 represents the first tranches of the payment to the consultants.
“...This company is a small Canadian organisation, but they are the principal advisors for many other governments across the world on this very area and they have achieved great success and we believe we are getting value for money by engaging in this consultancy,” he added. (JRT)