Given the stringent banking laws to combat money laundering that exist in T&T, allegations that US$10 million from Fifa were laundered through established and respected banks and businesses should be a source of serious concern to local financial institutions and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Documents obtained by the BBC show payments being made to a local supermarket chain, with most of the sums being paid back to Warner in local currency. Over a period of one year, sums ranging from US$4,860,000 to US$87,000 to US$360,000 were moved in various transactions. According to the BBC, nearly US$1.6m was used to pay Mr Warner's credit cards and personal loans. Did any of these transactions raise any red flags for the local banks?
It would be useless to point fingers, or attempt to cast blame at this stage when investigations are in progress and certain legal actions have been initiated locally and internationally. However, based on information now dominating news reports around the world, transactions took place that involved commercial banks and well known business places. Very likely, because legitimate institutions were used, no suspicious activity reports were triggered and no criminal or money laundering investigations were done.
If in fact illegal financial transactions did take place, they were not caught on the radar of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) which has been in place since 2000. After all, a wire transfer from Fifa, an established, bona fide global sporting body, is not the type of transaction that would set off alarm bells–not even when for the large sums involved. It is the type of activity that may have been taking place for decades. However, in light of the new information and the questions raised, the onus is on the institutions involved to revisit and review their systems with the aim of closing any loopholes and upgrading systems that could be potentially exploited to facilitate corruption, money laundering and embezzlement.
It is well known that the FIU, which is mandated to proactively and reactively investigate money laundering and related criminal activities, is significantly under resourced, so its efficiency and effectiveness is limited. As a result, implementation of the checks and balances needed to keep public officials in line remains a work a progress.
Just last year, the Miscellaneous Provisions (Proceeds of Crime Anti-Terrorism, Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago) (No 2) Bill was debated and passed. According to Finance Minister Larry Howai, who piloted the Bill through Parliament, that legislation was supposed to catch all past, present and future money laundering transactions.
T&T's laws against money laundering are already tough to the point where some foreign investors consider them a barrier to doing legitimate business free of red tape. The notion that they may not have been strong enough in this particular instance is worrying. It seems as if, for the FIU and financial institutions, more thought needs to be put into their measures to fight money laundering.