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St. Lucia is named among 88 “major money laundering countries” in a United States (US) report that was released recently.
Seventeen other Caribbean countries are also named in the 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, an annual report by the US Department of State to Congress, prepared in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act.
According to the Department, the report describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in 2016. Volume I covers drug and chemical control activities, and Volume II covers money laundering and financial crimes.
The report says money laundering in St. Lucia primarily relates to drug trafficking.
“Illicit drug trafficking by organized crime rings and the laundering of drug proceeds by domestic and foreign criminal elements remain serious problems for St. Lucia. It is believed financial institutions unwittingly engage in currency transactions involving international narcotics trafficking proceeds,” the report states.
There remains a substantial black market for smuggled goods in St. Lucia, mostly gold, silver, and other jewelry, predominantly smuggled from Guyana, the report states.
“There is a black market in high quality jewelry purchased from duty free establishments in St. Lucia by both local and foreign consumers,” the report alleges.
According to the report, monies suspected to be derived from drug trafficking and other illicit enterprises are filtered into and washed through trading firms.
The report went on to state that the Customs and Excise Department is routinely confronted by false declarations, false invoicing, and fraudulent evasion of duties and taxes on goods, and there is a robust approach to cash seizures and forfeitures.
The report concludes that law enforcement and customs authorities should be given training on how to recognize and combat trade-based value transfer, which could be indicative of both customs fraud and money laundering.
“The Government of St. Lucia should improve investigative capacity within the police and courts to prosecute cash seizure and forfeiture cases expeditiously and successfully. The government should ensure its economic citizenship program is adequately supervised and monitored to prevent its abuse by criminals,” the country report on St. Lucia concluded.
The State Department says the 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes, highlights the most significant steps countries and jurisdictions categorized as “Major Money Laundering Countries” have taken to improve their anti-money laundering regimes.
“Jurisdictions flooded with illicit funds remain vulnerable to the breakdown of the rule of law, the corruption of public officials, and destabilization of their economies,” it says.
Read the report HERE.
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