In another forward thinking move which is becoming the hallmark of The Bahamas’ leadership of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), Madam Chair Allyson Maynard Gibson, Attorney General the Commonwealth of The Bahamas hosted the First Annual Regional Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Conference on April 2-3, 2014 at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel Nassau, The Bahamas.
The result was the Nassau Re-Affirmation on Anti Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.
This Conference provided national authorities in all CFATF Members with pertinent information on how to successfully undertake the Fourth Round of Mutual Evaluations which will begin in January 2015 and to achieve the goal of at least seventy five (75) percent compliance with the FATF Recommendations. The event was attended by high ranking Ministerial officials, Attorneys General and designated Representatives who embraced this challenge positively.
The issues included among others, the need for all CFATF Members to develop a serious approach to educating all regional stakeholders including the private sector, on the importance of the Fourth Round of Mutual Evaluations, the critical role of the National Risk Assessments as well as the Technical Assistance and Training Programmes for Secretariat staff, Mutual Evaluation Examiners and national stakeholders that are vital to achieving a high level of compliance with the revised FATF Recommendations.
Opening Remarks were delivered by the Right Honourable Perry G. Christie, Prime Minister, Commonwealth of The Bahamas, whose presence underscored the importance of this regional dialogue on the Fourth Round of Mutual Evaluations and the critical necessity of the Governments of each and every CFATF Member signaling to our international partners, the commitment at the highest political levels, to provide adequate human and financial resources for the Mutual Evaluation Programme.
In another significant development, Prime Minister Christie announced his readiness to undertake the very important commitment of being a patron to the CFATF, championing its work within CARICOM and around the world, strengthening its relationship with other Regional Bodies such as CARICOM and ensuring an adequate flow of resources so that the CFATF could do its work effectively. See Opening Remarks here.
Remarks by Rt. Hon. Perry Christie
In keeping with the close working relationship between the CFATF and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Madam Chair Maynard Gibson extended a special invitation to Mr. Vladimir Nechaev, President, FATF, her co-parent of this Conference who delivered the Keynote Address.
President Nechaev spoke about the FATF Mandate, its strong partnership with the CFATF, its relationship with the Private Sector, and the importance of complying with FATF Standards. For speech delivered click here. http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/aboutus/fatfpresidency/
The Commonwealth Secretariat is a founder CFATF Observer Organisation and has contributed significant financial resources to the growth and development of the CFATF with regard to strengthening AML/CFT capacity in the Caribbean Basin Region.
The CFATF owes the Commonwealth Secretariat a considerable debt of gratitude and a Special Address was delivered by Legal Advisor, Mr. Shadrach Haruna, on behalf of Ms. Katalaina Sapolu, Director, Legal & Constitutional Division, which highlighted the longstanding relationship between both organizations and the mechanisms by which such close collaboration could continue during the Fourth Round of Assessments and beyond.
The Caribbean Criminal Assets Recovery Programme (CCARP) are organising a conference for Lead Financial Investigators and Prosecutors, which is to be held in the Fort Young Hotel in Dominica during April 9-10 2014.
The main themes of the conference are money laundering prosecutions and the preparation of a ‘Prosecutor’s Statement’ for confiscation. Participants will come from twenty jurisdictions, with eighteen CFATF Members invited to attend along with attendees from Martinique and United States of America.
Jefferson Clarke, Law Enforcement Advisor at the CFATF Secretariat has been invited to attend this conference to make a presentation on the CFATF Training and Accreditation Programme which is intended to deliver five training modules for the benefit of two hundred and seven (207) Financial Investigators, Financial Analysts and Supervisors at Regional Financial Intelligence Units.
The aim of this three year project which is funded by the European Union is to ensure that participation by these officials, all of whom will be working in country and regionally, will facilitate the improved quality in the filing of suspicious transaction reports, improved quality of financial intelligence and information through effective analysis and data matching, encourage the use of financial investigative tools, and enhance exchange of financial information and intelligence and cooperation as standard activity in the investigation of serious crimes.
CCARP is based in Barbados and has a mandate to build effective financial investigation capacity in financial intelligence units in select Caribbean jurisdictions.
The ultimate goal of the CCARP and the CFATF initiatives is to deprive criminal gangs of their illegally obtained wealth.
To the unanimous approval and the warmest applause of the Council of Ministers, The Honourable Luis Antonio Martinez Gonzalez, Attorney General was elected to perform the duties of the Deputy Chair of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) on behalf of El Salvador, for the period November 2013- November 2014.
“As Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador, I feel very honored by this important appointment to such a respectable body as the CFATF” noted The Honourable Luis Antonio Martinez Gonzalez”.
El Salvador has always held the CFATF in high esteem. By letter to the CFATF Plenary dated January 13th 2003, Honourable Belisario Artiga Artiga, Attorney General, Republic of El Salvador, outlined his country’s interest in becoming a member of the CFATF, which was presented to the Panama City, Panama Plenary in March 2003, by the then Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit.
At that stage El Salvador was already a member of EGMONT and presented to the CFATF Plenary a clear picture of a jurisdiction that was at an advanced stage of building a robust anti-money laundering framework consistent with international standards.
At the Council of Minister Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda on October 23rd 2003, The Honourable Belisario Artiga Artiga signed the memorandum of Understanding and El Salvador was formally and warmly welcomed as the thirtieth member of the CFATF family of nations.
Fast forward to August 2013, Deputy Chair Luis Martinez Gonzalez pledged that he “will assume the post with the confidence that El Salvador will work hand in hand with Madame Chair Allyson Maynard Gibson, and assured the Ministers that he will do everything in my power “to carry out all actions that the position demands of me, with great enthusiasm and fortitude”
In response to Deputy Chair Martinez Gonzalez’s generosity of spirit, Madame Chair Maynard Gibson confirmed that “In implementing my Eleven Point Action Plan, I will have the valuable support of Deputy Chair the Honourable Senor Luis Antonio Martinez Gonzalez, Attorney General, El Salvador who, with the support of all our Spanish speaking Members in Central and South America, will act as the bridge between the CFATF and the Members of our sister FATF Style Regional Body, GAFISUD with whom we have had and will continue to have, strong and fruitful cooperation in terms of translating documents, participating in Mutual Evaluation Missions, undertaking Joint Typology Exercises and engaging jointly in outreach to relevant national and international organisations operating in our hemisphere.”
One project that will immediately attract the attention and energies of Deputy Chair Martinez Gonzalez will be to explore with GAFISUD, the furthering of an idea advocated by Executive Director Wilson at the April 2013 Doha, Qatar meeting between EGMONT and the Secretariats of the FATF and FATF Style Regional Bodies, for the establishment of a Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Forum for the Americas.
This proposed Forum for the Americas will be modelled on the successful CFATF Heads of FIUs Forum and which is being currently considered as a model for the establishment of a similar Heads of FIUs Forum with the FATF.
In pursuit of this hemispheric wide agenda particularly as it relates to identifying new methods and trends being used by trans-national organized crime, Deputy Chair Martinez Gonzalez, demonstrating an acute insight into and appreciation of this pernicious saga, noted that “Money laundering, worldwide makes crime profitable, by allowing criminals to hide and legitimize profits from illegal activities, -these illicit funds allow them to finance a variety of other criminal activities, - more so, it is worrisome that this illicit practice corrodes the economy and governments, it promotes corruption, it distorts economic decision making, it aggravates social problems, it threatens the integrity of financial institutions and strikes at the development of the population.”
“It is very reassuring to share leadership responsibilities of the CFATF with a partner who is as knowledgeable, passionate and committed to the protection of the Caribbean Basin Region as Deputy Chair Martinez Gonzalez,” said Madame Chair Maynard Gibson, I am extremely confident, she continued, “that the future of our organization is in very safe hands”
CFATF Members Guatemala and Honduras in the pioneering spirit of the Honourable Allyson Maynard Gibson, current CFATF Chair, lead the way by becoming members of GAFISUD and holding dual membership in both the CFATF and GAFISUD.
The FATF in October 2013 launched a novel initiative which encourages countries that are located in the geographic, cultural or linguistic periphery of more than one FATF Style Regional Body (FSRB) to consider becoming a member of more than one FSRB.
CFATF Members Guatemala and Honduras have all accomplished that and this now opens the way for dialogue between CFATF and GAFISUD for the development of a strategy that will reinforce the mutual presence of each organization in the other, by encouraging dual membership and enhancing cooperation by holding regular joint meetings.
The new FATF policy is designed to reinforce the global AML/CFT network as it allows countries to share experiences from one body to another. In this regard this should be easily implemented as both CFATF and GAFISUD who already have mutual Observer Status have been cooperating on an operational level for several years such as jointly translating the Revised FATF Recommendations 2012 and Mr. Esteban Fullin, the current GAFISUD Executive Secretary, led the CFATF Third round Mutual Evaluation Mission to Venezuela.
The forerunner to this FATF initiative was the FATF Ad Hoc Group for the Americas which was established around 2001 after the creation of GAFISUD, as a forum where FATF members were able to meet with the Secretariats of CFATF and GAFISUD to discuss issues relating to money laundering and terrorist financing.
The first Chair of the FATF Ad Hoc Group for the Americas was Ms. Adrienne de Senna Nelson, Brazil, who was very instrumental in the establishment of close working relations between CFATF and GAFISUD and her efforts were rewarded with, among other things, the organization of a joint Terrorist Financing Typology Exercise between the CFATF and GAFISUD, on the margins of the CFATF April 2002 Plenary Meeting in Tobago.
Mr. Fernando Rosado, first GAFISUD Executive Secretary in his report on GAFISUD activities to the CFATF Tobago Plenary meeting, expressed his gratitude for the help and support that was extended by the CFATF Secretariat even before the birth of GAFSUD through the sharing of official documents which assisted with establishing the founding documents of GAFISUD.
Underscoring the message of hemispheric cooperation, Executive Secretary Rosado noted that both the CFATF and GAFISUD Secretariat were in regular conversation with each other, sharing ideas and exploring the preparation of joint plans for the future.
These future plans included an open invitation to attend and the acceptance and presence of GAFISUD Members at CFATF Plenary and Heads of CFATF Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Forum meetings.
And at the Second CFATF Forum, FIU Heads benefited from the experiences of FIUs in South America in engendering closer co-operation and were provided with an insight into the pace of developments in that region. Additionally, CFATF FIUs were invited to an Open House at the Colombian FIU.
The long standing and constructive history of CFATF/GAFISUD co-operation continues to the present day as both CFATF Executive Director Calvin Wilson and GAFISUD Executive Secretary Esteban Fullin have fostered excellent working relations and recently jointly shared the platform as Presenters on the FATF Standards and Methodology, at an Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Workshop at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington on November 15th 2013.
CFATF Deputy Chair the Honourable Senor Luis Antonio Martinez Gonzalez, Attorney General, El Salvador has been mandated to explore with GAFISUD, the establishment of a Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Forum for the Americas, which will be modelled on the successful CFATF Heads of FIUs Forum and which is being currently considered as a model for the establishment of a similar Heads of FIUs Forum with the FATF.
GAFISUD Members are also invited to attend the CFATF Workshop on the preparation of National Risk Assessments which will be held in Honduras during January 16-17, 2014 in Honduras.
All of which augurs well for the future dialogue for the development of a CFATF/GAFISUD strategy for ongoing cooperation and support which should include a joint approach to the international donor community for funding to facilitate the participation of GAFISUD members in the three year Euros 1.2 Million project for the training of Financial Investigators, Analysts and Supervisors at Financial Intelligence Units which should commence during the second quarter of 2014.