Law Enforcement Officers of the Financial Crime Unit and the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Royal Bahamas Police Force are undergoing a two week training with the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the European Union (EU), on Financial Investigation Accreditation Training.
The training is anticipated to provide the units’ representatives participating, with the skills to investigate financial crimes inclusive of money laundering and counter-terrorism.
National Security Minister, Marvin Dames, in his remarks during the opening ceremony of the training, said the training is to help build capacity, as he told participants that they are the guardians of the financial system.
Following an evaluation by the CFATF it was found that The Bahamas was not totally compliant with the FATF 40 recommendations.
Mr. Dames said as a result, the government spent considerable time enacting and amending legislation.
“I believe it was in 2017 when we were evaluated. And usually around evaluation time it gives you a good idea to see exactly where you are as a country. There are things that you need to do to improve on your regime.
“And during 2017 there were some concerns coming out of that last evaluation by the CFATF and it was found during that evaluation that The Bahamas, like many other countries, of course, throughout the region, and elsewhere, are not totally compliant with the FATF 40 recommendations.
“And so, that was around the time, certainly as the government when we were taking office. One of the things that we recognized almost immediately that we had to go to work on those recommendations and coming out of that, as a government, we spent a considerable amount of time and effort enacting and amending legislation having to do with anti-money laundering and terrorism to ensure that we were in a better place,” Mr. Dames said.
Mr. Dames further told participants that it is important to understand the standards and what it means to be compliant.
“What it means to ensure that we protect our financial sector from those who are seeking to use it to move their ill-gotten gains or to move funds from one location to another to support some terrorist group somewhere around the world.
“It’s extremely critical for us to understand that we are a part of a global village that must work hand in hand to ensure that we’re always steps ahead of those who are seeking to use our structures, our systems to benefit themselves and to reign terror throughout the globe.
“And so this course here today is extremely important because what you are doing is preparing yourselves to ensure that you are able, and that you are capable to deal with any complaint or any concerns having to do with money laundering or terrorism financing in this country.
“A key component to ensure that we protect our financial institutions our financial systems against those from within openly, as well as those from without, is to ensure that we build capacity,” Mr. Dames said.
Also participating in the two week training are officers from Belize’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
The training takes place at the Paul Farquharson Center.
