TRINIDAD-CRIME-FIUTT flagged suspicious activities valued at more than a billion dollars last year

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIUTT) last year flagged more than one billion dollars (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) in suspicious transactions and activity reports as the government announced plans for further legislative amendments to include administrative fines among other measures.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert, in a statement to Parliament on Monday relating to the FIUTT’s annual report for the year ending September 2022, said that the agency had continued using the intelligence provided from the analysis of Suspicious Transaction Reports/Suspicious Activity Reports (STRs/SARs) to ensure entities’ compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism/Counter Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) legal obligations.

According to Imbert, during the reporting period, the FIUTT received 958 STRs/SARs, representing a decrease of 42 percent compared with the same period one year prior. But he said the total monetary value of the 958 STRs/SARs received was TT$1,937,211,057.

The Finance Minister said the banking sector submitted 76 percent of the STRs/SARs, followed by the Money of Value Transfer Services (MVTS) sector and Co-operative Societies, accounting for 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

“Also, during the reporting period, submissions from the co-operative societies, investment companies, mortgage companies, MVTS, motor vehicle sales, real estate, and private members’ club’s sectors decreased due to the pandemic restrictions,” Imbert said.

He said a 44 percent decrease was noted in STRs/SARs submissions by financial institutions and a 21 percent decrease in requests from listed businesses (LBs).”

Imbert told legislators that of the 958 STRS/SARS, 844 involving TT$1,586,346,802 were completed transactions, while an estimated 195 estimated at TT$350,864,255 were attempted transactions.

“This represented a 24 percent decrease in completed transactions and a 68 percent decrease in attempted transactions compared to the previous reporting period. Of note, 16 STRs/SARs contained completed and attempted transactions.”

Imbert said the FIUTT had noted an 83 percent increase in submissions from jewelers, the only LB to record a significant rise in STRs/SARs submissions in the reporting period and that suspicious activity ranked the highest among the five most common reasons for the request of STRs/SARs to the FIUTT, representing 301 persons.

This was followed by tax evasion (211 persons), fraud (196), money laundering (155), and drug trafficking (35). These accounted for 94 percent of the total STRs/SARs received and 60 percent of the total monetary value of all STRs/SARs submitted.

Imbert said in terms of its priorities for 2023, the FIUTT will continue the implementation of strategic and innovative measures that would nurture a professional, supportive working environment to enhance staff morale and ensure the achievement of the FIUTT’s mandate.

“Moreover, further legislative amendments will be introduced in areas such as extending the range of sanctions to include administrative fines in the AML/CFT/CPF regime; the introduction of AML/CFT/CPF Regulations formulated specifically for NPOs; further amendments to the FIUTTA.”

Imbert said legislative developments to include the regulation, supervision, and monitoring of Virtual.

Assets and Virtual Assets Service Providers for both AML/CFT/CPF and prudential measures; and the introduction of a Currency Threshold Reporting regime for Reporting Entities.

The Finance Minister said that in the area of strategic engagements: cooperation, and collaboration, the FIUTT received 16 requests from foreign authorities representing a 45 percent increase compared to the previous reporting period.

He said these requests featured 85 subjects in contrast to the 26 recorded in the previous year.

“The suspected criminal conduct in the majority of cases was the financing of terrorism-related, with four of the requests seeking intelligence on 34 subjects,” Imbert said, adding that the FIUTT also made 23 requests comprising 45 subjects to foreign authorities for financial intelligence and information.

He said the requests made to foreign authorities involved 11 cases of suspected fraud and five cases of drug trafficking. The bids from foreign sources originated mainly from the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Europe.

“Similarly, the FIUTT sent the majority of requests to foreign authorities in the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia,” Imbert said.