The report on the findings from Grenada’s Mutual Evaluation Review that was held in October 2008, was presented to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) 29th Plenary in Trinidad on May 8th 2009.
The findings generally revealed that, although Grenada has implemented legislation to combat money laundering (ML) and the financing of Terrorism (FT) subsequent to being ‘black listed” in 2000 to be compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) forty plus nine recommendations, the effectiveness of its AML/CFT (Anti Money Laundering/Combating Financing Terrorism) program must be strengthened. As a result Grenada has received an average rating of Partially Compliant.
Among other things, Grenada needs to:
Strengthen its ML legislation by applying penalties or sanctions for non-compliance. In addition, ML legislation must be used more frequently and effectively in the Courts;
Bring the guidelines issued by the Supervisory Authority into enforceable law or regulations and ensure that it is understood by the Financial and non-financial institutions operating in the country; and
Ensure that the Supervisory Authority conduct regular inspections of ALL Financial Institutions including Designated Non-Financial Business Professions (DNFBPs) in accordance with the Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws. In addition, the Authority must conduct on-going public education among all Financial Institutions.
Notwithstanding, Grenada’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) received high praise for its work in the fight against money laundering. Grenada is one of the few countries that have secured a conviction in this area, in addition to having three pending cases. Consequently, the Plenary felt that Grenada’s FIU is a model for the other countries.
Grenada was also commended for having established the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN).
As a result of the rating, Grenada is now placed on an enhanced reporting status which means that Grenada must present a follow-up report to the next CFATF Plenary scheduled for October 2009.
Grenada’s team was lead by the Attorney General, Mr. James Bristol and included:
Mrs. Patricia Antoine – Clyne, Chairman of the Supervisory Authority;
Mr. Christopher Nelson, Director of Public Prosecution;
Mr. Tafawa Pierre, Former Officer in Charge of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); and
Mr. Angus Smith, Executive Director of GARFIN
The CFATF 29th Plenary, which ran from May 5th to 8th 2009, followed the meeting of the Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), from over thirty countries around the world, on May 4th 2009. The meetings were also attended by representatives from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United Kingdom Financial Action Task Force.
Recommendations, coming out of the meeting, will be made to the Cabinet as to the way forward in bringing Grenada closer to full compliance with the FATF forty plus nine recommendations for its AML/ Combating Financing Terrorism (CFT) program.