FID flags six financial institutions, initiates probes

KEITH DARIEN, principal director of the Financial Investigations Division (FID), on Friday served notice that investigations have commenced into the operations of at least six institutions operating in the financial sector that are not in compliance with the law.

He told a virtual press conference on yesterday’s National Anti-Money Laundering Day that the evidence would suggest that the operations of these institutions are being used to facilitate money laundering.

“We believe that a couple of these institutions may be prosecuted or they will have to be addressed from a point of the fixed-penalty regime, which was included in the Proceeds of Crime Act in November 2019,” said Darien.

He revealed that between January and October this year, the FID concluded investigations into 17 asset-recovery cases involving criminal benefits or assets, with an accumulated values of J$1.185 billion and just over US$182,000. This compares with 13 cases completed in 2020 with criminal assets or benefits of amounting to J$300 billion and US$1.54 million.

On an annualised basis, this year’s figures represent an increase of 50 per cent in the number of investigations conducted into asset recovery and a 130 per cent increase in the value of criminal assets or benefits identified, which are subject to confiscation or forfeiture order.

Of the 17 cases completed thus far, eight involved persons who were convicted for drug-trafficking offences and four for lottery scamming.

In addition, the FID has also identified assets, including real estate holdings, motor vehicles and bank accounts valued at over J$300 million and about US$54,000, which it will pursue to satisfy the formal orders as they are obtained from the Supreme Court. Five formal orders were granted by the court in 2021 amounting to over J$33 million.

Darien further disclosed that since the beginning of the year, the division has restrained assets in excess of J$334 million in furtherance of money-laundering and asset-recovery investigations, which include five houses, six motor vehicles and five bank accounts. The division has also forfeited assets being managed with a value of J$1.273 billion.

CRIMINALS CHANGING STRATEGIES

In terms of cases finalised by the court and recovery done through forfeiture orders, some 44 real estate (holdings) valued at over J$1 billion, 19 motor vehicles valued at approximately $10 million, 19 bank accounts containing J$245.7 million, and other assets like jewellery, brand-name bags and so on, valued at $2 million, have been confiscated.

“We are about to place some of these assets – the real estate, in particular – on the market, so that we can dispose of them,” Darien disclosed.

Meanwhile, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica Dr Wayne Robinson noted that as the COVID19 pandemic has forced persons and businesses to change how they conduct their affairs, criminals have also been changing their strategies to keep pace.

“The shift to digital services provides additional opportunities to exploit, and members of the public, therefore, need to be aware of the risks and the regulations that the authorities have put in place to protect them and the financial system as well,” said Robinson. “The evolving landscape calls for all of us to be vigilant, to quickly identify suspicious actions and behaviours and to be cautious in our business and financial dealings.”