FID cannot handle money laundering without POCA
The Financial Investigation Division (FID) considers that Jamaica cannot handle the problem of money laundering properly, which is a big problem for it, until passing the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). Next year, the POCA is expected to be brought for debate before the House of Parliament.
Currently, people who are found guilty of money laundering are prosecuted under the Money Laundering Act of 1998, which will be repealed as soon as the POCA is passed. Meanwhile, allegations of money laundering are investigated but, according to, very little that can be done about them except for taxing the people.
The offences are mostly fraud and larceny, and it is more difficult to work with a drug-related offence. Currently, there are 5 money-laundering cases before the courts in Jamaica, where money laundering is carried out as real construction, estate purchases, trade, used car dealership, extortion and smuggling.
In 2005, just 7 cases of money laundering were brought before the courts since 2001. And there have been only 2 convictions for money laundering since the establishment of the FID 2002. In accordance with the FID’s data, this year 8 people have been convicted of breaches of the Money Laundering Act, while there were 5 last year. The numbers are small, but the 8 convicted were responsible for 20 counts of money laundering.
In accordance with the Money Laundering Act, keeping and reporting for financial institutions on all currency transactions over USD 10,000 is obligatory. As to exchange bureaus, they have to report the threshold of USD 50,000.
In the period of January-September 2006, the FID received 18,311 suspicious transaction reports, 46,765 threshold transaction reports and 30 cash transaction reports. There was a significant increase in the number of suspicious transaction reports by 2164 as compared to 2005, while the number of threshold transaction reports decreased from 52,310. Only 12 suspicious cases were investigated for money laundering out of the 231.
The head of taxation at the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants, Chas Roy-Chowdhury, has recently participated at an anti-money-laundering seminar and told there that worldwide money laundering could amount to between 2 and 5% of the global GDP, which is approximately USD 590 billion to USD 1.5 trillion. He also indicated the possible warning signs for money-laundering activity, which include the following:
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unusually large deposits of cash made by an individual or company whose affairs would normally generate deposits by cheque or banker’s draft;
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substantial increases in cash deposits without apparent cause;
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depositing large numbers of smaller cash amounts which together make up a substantial sum;
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customer’s providing information which is difficult or expensive to verify;
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customer’s unwillingness to provide routine information when opening an account;
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large withdrawals from a hitherto dormant/inactive account.