CHAIRMAN MANUEL GONZALEZ LEADS TEAM CFATF AT THE FATF OCTOBER 2012 PLENARY MEETING
Paris, October 19th 2012

In his final month as Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, (CFATF) Manuel Gonzalez, Venezuela led a team of officials from The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and the CFATF Secretariat and accomplished several successes for the organization during the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting which was held at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Paris, France, during October15-19 2012.   

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
NO LONGER SUBJECT TO FATF MONOTORING

Chairman Gonzalez applauded the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago and the Honourable Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Honourable Austin Jack Warner Minister of National Security and Prime Contact to the CFATF on the removal from the FATF monitoring process of its International Co-operation Review Group initiative.

Against the backdrop of cold and rainy but pleasant autumn weather, Chairman Gonzalez noted the critical importance of the role of dedicated and hard working public servants in national efforts to effectively implement the international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and extended warmest congratulations to Mrs. Sherene Murray-Bailey, Director, Compliance Unit, Ministry of National Security, and Ms. Susan Francois, Director, Financial Intelligence Unit, Trinidad and Tobago

Reflecting the sentiments of the FATF statement, Chairman Gonzalez counselled Trinidad and Tobago to guard against resting on its laurels but to redouble its efforts to implement the new legislative and regulatory regime and to urgently address the outstanding AML/CFT issues identified in its Mutual Evaluation Report and encouraged the country to vigorously resume its leadership role by sharing its experiences of the FATF process with members of the CFATF family.

FATF TO CONDUCT AN ON-SITE VISIT TO VENEZUELA

In recognition of the ongoing steps taken by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela towards improving its AML/CFT regime, the FATF has decided to conduct an on-site visit to the jurisdiction as outlined in its Public Document- Improving Global AML/CFT Compliance: On-Going Process dated October 19th 2012.

The dates for the visit, which will seek to confirm Venezuela’s ongoing programme towards implementing the required reforms to its AML/CFT architecture, based upon the deficiencies previously identified by the FATF, will be decided shortly in conjunction with FATF officials.

General Edlyberto Molina, Acting Director, Oficina National Anti Drogas and Head of the Venezuelan delegation to the FATF Plenary welcomed the decision which recognizes the recent legislative enactments to criminalize terrorist financing and to establish procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets as well as suspicious transactions reporting obligations for money laundering and terrorist financing.

General Molina confirmed Venezuela’s unwavering commitment to continue strengthening its national capacity to comply with and effectively implement the FATF standards through ongoing dialogue with both the FATF and the CFATF.

MS. DAWNE SPICER CFATF DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL AML/CFT NETWORK

CFATF Ministers at Special Ministerial III which was held in Miami on August 24th 2012 unanimously applauded the appointment of Ms. Dawne Spicer, Deputy Executive Director CFATF Secretariat as a Co Chair of the FATF Global Network Coordinating Group (GNCG) whose overall purpose is to support the work of the global network of the FATF and FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs). The other Co Chair is from South Africa.
Ms. Spicer is the first woman to Co Chair an FATF Working Group and her appointment takes on added significance as a considerable achievement for the CFATF as a whole in that the CFATF is the first FATF Style Regional Body (FSRB) to have one of its representatives Co-Chair an FATF Working Group.
Ms. Spicer’s appointment was confirmed at the FATF June 2012 Plenary Meeting where she Co-Chaired the first meeting of the FATF GNCG which was conducted with the requisite skill and competence.
Ms. Spicer continued to represent the Caribbean Basin Region on the world stage to glowing tributes at the FATF October 2012 Plenary Meeting in Paris, France.
The staff at the CFATF Secretariat is extremely proud of our colleague.

CONGRATULATIONS

Mr. Stephen Thompson, Inspector, Compliance Commission, The Bahamas, who represented his country at the FATF Plenary Meeting, during the Plenary discussions on the FATF ICRG process, commended all delegations that made progress in rectifying deficiencies in their respective AML/CFT regimes and in particular applauded the progress made by Venezuela along with the significant progress made by Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr Thompson noted that the CFATF will continue to encourage those CFATF Members that are still in the FATF ICRG process to do all that is necessary to exit the process and will seek to ensure that no CFATF Member will enter the FATF ICRG again.    

CFATF REPRESENTATION AT THE FATF PLENARY

Mr. Manuel GONZALEZ
Chairman of CFATF
International Department of ONA (Oficina National de Antidrogas),

The Bahamas

Mr. Stephen THOMPSON
Inspector
Bahamas Compliance Commission

Trinidad and Tobago

Ms. Susan FRANCOIS
Director
Financial Intelligence Unit, Ministry of Finance

Mrs. Sherene MURRAY-BAILEY
Director
AML/CFT Compliance
Ministry of National Security

Venezuela

General Edlyberto MOLINA
Acting Director, Oficina National Antidrogas
Head of Delegation

Mrs. Annalibe RUIZ G.
Directora Contra Legitimación de Capitales
Oficina Nacional Antidrogas (ONA)

Mr. Alejandro FERNANDEZ
Director de Analisis e Inteligencia
Oficina Nacional Contra la Delincuencia Organizada y Financiamiento al Terrorismo

Ms. Yasmeliz Yakelin FLORES ARISPE
Analista Internacional
Oficina contra la Delicuencia Organizada y Financiamiento al Terrorismo

CFATF SECRETARIAT

Mr. Calvin Wilson, Executive Director
Ms. Dawne Spicer, Deputy Executive Director
Mr. Roger Hernandez, Financial Advisor

CFATF SECRETARIAT- October 19th 2012