House passes Financial Action Task Force bill

THE House of Representatives on November 15 passed a bill to comply with TT's international obligations to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to try to curb illicit financial activities – the Miscellaneous Provisions [Proceeds of Crime, Anti-Terrorism, Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Securities, Insurance, Non-Profit Organisations, Civil Asset Recovery and Management and Unexplained Wealth and Miscellaneous Provisions (FATF Compliance)] Bill, 2024.

Contributing to the bill were Finance Minister Colm Imbert, Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein, Attorney General Reginald Armour, Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi.

Piloting the bill, Imbert said TT was part of the 200-plus State/territory member FATF group.

As such, TT had pledged to act to curb organised crime corruption and terrorism. The bill addressed gaps in TT's efforts at anti money launder, counter terrorism financing and non proliferation, he said. "This is a necessary step to bolster TT's reputation as a co-operative jurisdiction."

Imbert said in 2016 FATF had deemed TT to be "partially compliant."

Since then, the country had undergone a mock assessment in March and then a real assessment in October, he related.

Saying TT would under a fifth round assessment next year, he quipped that through the bill the Government was "taking in front."

He said the bill would help TT to attract more direct foreign investment, restore confidence and combat the shadow economy.

Imbert spelt out several provisions of the bill.

One clause will remove the National Lotteries Control Board as a listed business subject to supervision by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU.)

The bill says the FIU is an oversight authority for specified non profit organisations (NPOs), he said.

Imbert recalled that in 2016, FATF had said only a certain subset of NPOs were subject to terrorist financing. As a result, NPOs would be considered by way of a "risk based" approach, rather than a one-size-fits-all model. He made the point that in June 2021 FATF had said a targeted approach would mean that measures would not hinder the legitimate activities of NPOs. Imbert said NPOs will be subject merely to oversight and monitoring, rather than supervision.

Of the bill, he said, "All these measures will boost compliance with global standards of integrity."

Saying the bill strengthens TT's regulatory environment, he said, "The worldwide trend is to administrative fines, without the need for lengthy legal proceedings."

He underlined the seriousness of the issue by recalling a US$1.3 billion fine of TD Bank for anti money laundering failures, plus a Canadian$7.5 million fine of Royal Bank for similar.