Over the past two days the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and the British High Commission have co-sponsored a training workshop for the judiciary and prosecutors.
The training was on money laundering and focused on methods money launderer's use, techniques and ways to combat money laundering in our jurisdiction. The workshop included interactive sessions as well as case studies of money laundering from other countries.
Today 7news spoke with Marilyn Williams, the director of the Financial Intelligence Unit in Belize.
Marilyn Williams - Dir. Financial Intelligence Unit
"This was the first such training of its kind in Belize to sort of bring an awareness among the decision-makers, namely, the Judiciary, the Magistracy - which is a key function in terms of getting money laundering to be recognized for what it is. And so we wanted to expose them to the basics of money laundering, to understand level of the fight - the quantum of the fighting that we are doing - and to recognize the various aspects of money laundering that needs to be recognized the legal system. I would want to say that the oversight of money laundering is relatively new. However, the crime itself is being committed on a rather frequent basis. I think that we tend to focus more on the murders that are occurring, and while those are being sensationalized in the media, we have money laundering that is running rampant beneath the surface and going by undetected because no one is paying the particular attention, other than us who are charged with the task of oversight of money laundering. But, we are hoping that down the line pipe, there are going to be significant changes within the knowledge-base, the training of the police, the Magistracy, and everyone who is being charged and being a part of the task of fighting against money laundering within the jurisdiction of Belize, so we become better educated. And I have to tell you that the public has become more aware within the past 3 years, so I am hoping that as we move along - in other words, 3 years from now we will be so much the wiser for what is going on. And given the phone calls that I received at the FIU with anonymous tips, I can tell you with all certainty that people are lot more aware of what money laundering is. This is part one and this is the reason why we have to start off sort of at the ground level, to expose what is money laundering, how do we fight it, and then later on we are going to step up the training and get into case law, evidence gathering and the technical aspects of the money laundering act."
Angela Mele, a money laundering specialist from the Cayman Islands led the two day workshop.
Email
Print