‘Money laundering could spike’

KALIFA SARAH CLYNE

Former minister in the Ministry of Finance, Mariano Browne, believes Government’s timing to introduce the new polymer $100 bill to could be inconvenient on one hand or lead to a spike in money laundering, on the other.

In an interview with Newsday on Sunday, Browne said choosing to introduce the polymer note during the Christmas season which is the busiest spending time of the year, was not the best choice.

On Thursday, National Security Minister Stuart Young announced that Government would be removing the paper $100 bill from circulation and introducing a polymer note. Young said the matter was a national security issue, adding that the polymer note would be beneficial in the fight against corruption and criminal elements.

To decrease the time necessary for introduction of a bill, Government brought a bill to Parliament on Friday, which was debated in the House and then debated in Senate on Saturday. Browne, an economist, said while the measure was necessary, the timing was off.

“What will happen is people will attempt to monetise deposits or people could decide to spend as much as they can, so you see a spike in retail traffic where money obtained illegally is converted into goods. That is money laundering,” Browne said.

He said that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. He said the high volume of retail traffic would make it difficult to spot anomalies.

While he acknowledged there was no alternative as Government had already made its decision, he said the exercise should have been initiated in January.

In January, Browne said, sales are flat and it would be simpler to detect suspicious transactions.

As it is now, he said, the Government’s decision makes it difficult for normal businesses.

“It puts pressure on the banks. If we have people coming to unload mattress money or money hoarded, the lines will be longer and it will just make it inconvenient and uncomfortable for anybody who has to do normal business transactions.”

Browne said the Christmas spending may also make it difficult for Government to determine how successful the exercise is.