COP mum on new $100 note

COMMISSIONER of Police (COP) Gary Griffith on Tuesday opted to not comment on the replacement of the $100 banknote by a new polymer bill.

Last Friday in the House of Representatives, National Security Minister Stuart Young cited alleged criminality to justify the replacement, saying, “Up to recently we cracked a ring where persons were bleaching $1 notes and printing it as blue notes. You can’t do that with polymer notes very easily.”

Newsday asked the law enforcement authorities about any alert they had raised on counterfeiting, but we got little response.

Griffith replied, “No, I am not making any comment on this matter. Sorry about that.”

At the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), whose role is to curb illicit money, public affairs/communications officer Heather Baldwin-McDowell told Newsday that by law she was not allowed to discuss any possibility of anything that might be under scrutiny. She referred us to the police.