On 25 June 2019, the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago enacted the “Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No. 13 of 2019”, wherein Section 2 provides for tax amnesty concerning any tax payable under specific revenue laws for the period 15 June 2019 – 15 September 2019. 

The CFATF reviewed the compliance of the tax amnesty programme with its Voluntary Tax Compliance (VTC) Procedures of 2014, to verify it does not impede the effective implementation of AML/CFT measures and that Trinidad and Tobago address and mitigate the ML/TF risks of the programme.

The CFATF concluded that Trinidad and Tobago complies with all the requirements and approved the “Report on Trinidad and Tobago’s Voluntary Tax Compliance Programme” at its 50th Plenary Meeting held in Antigua and Barbuda from 24 to 29 November 2019.

Access the report by click here.

Press Release

Antigua and Barbuda assumes CFATF Chairmanship

St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, November 29^th, 2019

Lt. Colonel Edward Croft, CMG, OBE assumed the position of Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) today. In this capacity Lt. Col Croft represents the twenty-five (25) member countries of the CFATF.

Lt. Col. Croft takes over from outgoing Chairman, the Honourable Dale Marshall, Q.C. MP, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of Barbados.  This is the second time that Antigua and Barbuda has held the position of Chairman of the CFATF and the country looks forward to leading the organisation in further developing the level of compliance by all Members with the FATF Recommendations on Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation Financing. In his remarks the new Chairman, Lt. Col Edward Croft articulated the four goals he intends to pursue: -

1. Continued enhancement of the CFATF’s Mutual Evaluation Programme, including the Follow-Up Process.
2. Financial Strengthening and implementing measures that strengthen the CFATF Membership participation.
3. Ensuring continued good governance of the operations of the CFATF and
4. Advocacy regarding Members’ compliance with virtual asset and virtual asset service providers; issues of de-risking, European Commission listing of Members and issues of common interest.

Antigua and Barbuda will hold the position of Chairman for the 2019-2020 period and preside over the organisation’s May and November 2020 Plenaries.  

Lt. Col Edward Croft as new CFATF Chairman being congratulated by outgoing Chair Hon Dale Marshall QC, MP of Barbados.

FATF Vice President Dr. Marcus Pleyer congratulates Lt. Col Edward H Croft on becoming CFATF Chairman.

The CFATF, on behalf of the Organization of American States (OAS), is pleased to refer you to the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) 7th Round National Evaluation Reports on Drug Policies 2019 of the OAS Member States. The MEM is a peer review process that measures the progress of the actions taken by the Organization of American States (OAS) Member States to address the drug problem and related crimes. The MEM evaluates member states’ implementation of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs (2016-2020), which is aligned with the UNGASS 2016 goals and objectives and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development goals. The MEM process highlights strengths and weaknesses in its country reports and encourages national dialogue among policymakers.

The MEM 7th Round National Evaluation Reports on Drug Policies 2019 were officially released through social media. Click here to find the reports of the Caribbean countries published on the OAS CICAD website.

In the Control Measures chapter, there is information on:

• the legislative frameworks of the Caribbean countries to counter money laundering derived from drug trafficking;
• the strengthening of agencies’ capacities for the administration and disposition of seized and forfeited assets in cases of drug trafficking, money laundering and related crimes, and
• the exchange of intelligence information to detect routes and methods used by criminal drug trafficking organizations.

The CFATF Plenary held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2019 adopted the Mutual Evaluation Report of the Republic of Haiti. This evaluation summarises the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) measures in place in the Republic of Haiti as at the date of the on-site visit June 25 to July 6, 2018. The report analyses the level of compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations, the level of effectiveness of the Republic of Haiti’s AML/CFT system and provides recommendations on how the system could be strengthened.

Click here for complete report