The Bahamas ‘Stubborn’
with Global Financial Obligations
Deandre Williamson
Journal Staff Writer (Bahamas Press Club)
#Brussels, March 8, 2019 – Belgium – European Union Member of Parliament Sven Giegold called The Bahamas a “stubborn case” as he insisted that the country must carry out money laundering convictions before the nation can be considered for removal from the European Union’s blacklist.
“According to the figures I have, there are no
convictions on The Bahamas because of money laundering,” Giegold, who was in
Germany, said during an exclusive Skype interview with The Bahama Journal in
Brussels, Belgium.
Last month, The Bahamas was blacklisted by the
European Union and labeled as a high-risk jurisdiction for financial
crime. However, the EU wants action from The Bahamas, which includes
enforcing the financial services laws.
According to Giegold, all large financial sectors,
like The Bahamas, have money-laundering problems and there are globally agreed
standards, which are violated by fraudsters and people who have money to hide.
“If in certain jurisdictions, although it has a larger financial place, a larger financial center, and nobody is convicted, that is a clear sign that your regime doesn’t deliver,” Giegold said. “That is the reason why The Bahamas was seen as a country that has not solved all the problems and this is not about destroying anyone’s business.”
Giegold, who is also the coordinator on the
Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for European Parliament’s Greens Group,
pointed out that The Bahamas’ position in the international debate was that the
government would fight crime, not money laundering.
“The position of your government was we will fight drug dealers, we will fight corruption, we will fight trafficking humans and so on, but we will not go after money laundering,” Giegold said, adding that “this is why there is a basically zero positive track record in The Bahamas.”
“This is exactly what is a
very unfortunate position because fighting the money coming from crime is one
of the most promising levers to fight crime. So it is not enough to
say we fight the original criminality. We also have to try best to
fight dirty money, so that the incentive to do crime is reduced because if you
cannot use the money you make with crime, you’ll be less inclined to become
criminal.
“This is the reason why
there is this global standard and The Bahamas have to show that you are
cleaning up your financial sector and convict the fraudsters and close the
accounts of those who have dubious track records of where they got the money
from.”
The EU’s decision to blacklist The Bahamas was
based on an evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force and an additional
evaluation by the EU.
An analysis was made which indicates that The
Bahamas has a number of deficiencies in areas such as criminalization and
convictions, customer due diligence in the financial sector, customer due
diligence in the nonfinancial sector, powers of competent authorities,
sanctions, international cooperation, beneficial ownership information, and
targeted financial sanctions.
“The Bahamas is a particular
stubborn case and that is the result of the evaluation that has been done,”
Giegold said.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis
and Attorney General Carl Bethel met with members of the European Union in
Brussels, Belgium about the country’s involvement in international financial
markets.
According to Giegold, solving the issues behind the
analysis is more important than Bahamian politicians visiting Europe for
meetings.
“For this, we don’t need meetings in Europe,” he said. “We want to see convictions and effective cooperation.”
Following the EU’s decision to blacklist The
Bahamas, Bethel told the Senate that the government has addressed the concerns
of the EU, which involves the criminalization of money laundering and terrorist
financing by implementing the Proceeds of Crime Act (since 1996) and the
Anti-Terrorism Act 2018.
Also, Bethel said the customer due diligence and
record keeping requirements were addressed in the Financial Transactions
Reporting Act 2018, and its predecessor law with the same name, since 2000.
But according to Giegold, passing laws isn’t
sufficient, and he explained that The Bahamas must also demonstrate to the
public and global community that laws are not only passed, but also applied
rigorously.
“This means people who have
broken rules such as due diligence, have opened offshore companies for criminal
people, that they have to come to justice and the respective financial
institutions lose their licenses. There must be real consequences of
these laws and then you are credible,” he said, adding that there are also
other measures that must be taken before The Bahamas is clean.
Giegold, who is also an
economist with specialization in financial crimes, hopes The Bahamas would work
cooperatively with the EU because the EU has no intentions of destroying the
country’s financial services sector. He said the EU just wants The
Bahamas to conduct business in accordance with globally agreed rules.
“Our subject is that you
are a part of a global financial system, an important financial center, and at
the same time do not respect the rules which go with open capital
accounts. That is the basis,” he said.” Our cup of tea is, there are
global rules and they have to be enforced regardless who is in government.”
Release: The Bahamas Press Club
For further information
contact: Secretary Lindsay Thompson at (242) 434-5643. Email:thebahamaspressclub@gmail.com.
Website: www.bahamaspressclub.org
Photo Caption: Bahamas Press Club Member, broadcast journalist Deandrè Williamson attended the 7th World Conference Against Death Penalty, in Brussels from February 26 to March 1st, 2019. Pictured is European Union Member of Parliament Sven Giegold, who commented on Blacklisting as it relates to The Bahamas.