Co-operative Credit Union raises the alarm on financial crimes

The Co-operative Credit Union League of TT (CCULTT) hosted its fourth virtual compliance officers conference in which officers were made aware of crimes that can compromise the integrity of the credit union.

The two-day event started on Thursday and focused on crimes such as money laundering, financing terrorism and proliferation financing – defined as financing, raising, moving or making funds available or other economic resources/assets to assist in acquiring nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

The CCULTT's president Joseph Remy said these conferences are important to keep the officers abreast of finance-related issues and standards of operations.

During the launch via Zoom on Monday, he said the importance of these conferences stems from the fact that credit unions are financial institutions and criminals can use it an as avenue to illicit criminal activities.

"It is more necessary now because we are seeing in TT the advent of a new form of arms developed – ghost guns – and these things have to be funded and financed in some way, so we want to ensure that the credit unions are not the avenues for such illicit trade. We have seen how difficult they are to track and trace because the criminal elements are utilising every avenue of technological evolution to continue their trade."

Minister of Youth Development and National Services Foster Cummings was also present and commended the credit union for its work and for keeping up-to-date with international trends like these. He encouraged CCULTT to continue offering educational courses.

The conference also included presentations from Nigel Studdon director of Financial Intelligence Unit of TT and Deborah-Ann Scott acting commissioner for Co-operative Development.