…tells staff underground economy undermining regional countries

CHAIRMAN of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams, on Tuesday toured the Trinidad headquarters of CFATF, when he told staff that “many of our regional economies have been affected by the underground economy.”

Williams’ visit came one day after he and a team of lawyers represented Guyana in a third term case at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). During the visit Williams met with the Executive Director Ms. Dawne Spicer, Deputy Executive Director Carlos Acosta and staff of the Secretariat.

Chairman Williams expressed his pleasure at being able to incorporate the visit to the secretariat following his representation in a matter on behalf of the State of Guyana at the Caribbean Court of Justice. During the visit he engaged the secretariat staff on the vision of the CFATF and commended the hard work of the secretariat in fostering regional implementation of countermeasures to address Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Chairman Williams specifically noted that “many of our regional economies have been deflected by the underground economy being the proceeds of crime from the five wars of globalisation – trafficking in persons, trafficking in narcotics, trafficking in weapons, money laundering and terrorist financing.” He noted the efficient work done by the secretariat staff and urged them to redouble efforts to assist CFATF members.

Chairman Williams will preside over the upcoming CFATF Plenary in Trinidad and Tobago during the period May 27-31, 2018. At this time, Chairman Williams is spearheading the ongoing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism work of CFATF’s 25 member countries.

Meanwhile, only last month Williams led the CFATF delegation at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting and Working Groups, held at OECD headquarters in Paris, France. CFATF participants included the CFATF Secretariat, Bermuda, Haiti, Jamaica, Venezuela, and Aruba and Curacao (under the Kingdom of the Netherlands).

The main issues addressed by this Plenary were: Combatting terrorist financing, including the adoption of a new counter-terrorist financing operational plan and a statement on the actions taken under the 2016 counterterrorist financing strategy. FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) were tasked with developing their own counter-terrorist financing operational plans.

Additionally, the plenary addressed amendments to recommendation two on national cooperation and coordination; Haiti was removed from the Third Round FATF ICRG pool; Barbados was placed in the Fourth Round FATF ICRG pool based on the results of the Mutual Evaluation Report and Trinidad and Tobago’s progress was discussed by the ICRG. They remain in status quo and will report at the FATF’s June 2018 Plenary.