Trinidad and Tobago is at risk of being blacklisted by the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) if by 2014 it continues to fail to prosecute anyone under anti-money laundering or combating the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) laws. So said attorney and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist David West at a seminar at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain yesterday. Speaking at the event organised by the Anointed Professionals Exhibiting Excellence (APEX), West said, “Come 2014, somebody is going to have to be charged.”
He explained that “in 2010 there were $263 million worth of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs); in 2011, there were $569 million worth of SARs; that’s $832 million worth of SARs and there have been no prosecutions.” However, the situation is even more alarming for the first half of 2012 where already, $500.47 million of SARs have been reported.
Keith King, CEO and chairman of Firstline Securities who also spoke, later compounded West’s figures saying SARs and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) totalled 303 in 2011, up from 111 in 2010. King said SARs and STRs totalled $304.1 million in dollar terms in 2011, up from $85.7 million in 2010.
“This represents a 172 per cent increase in the amount of SARs/STRs and a 254.84-per cent increase in dollar terms (or) value of the reports,” King told the audience which included financial advisers, representatives of financial institutions and attorneys.
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