NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips says he wants to expand the range of offences covered by the Money Laundering Act and has asked bankers to help the government thwart the illegal activity.

“This administration has been very cautious about how we approach the whole matter of criminalising the laundering of proceeds of serious crime,” Phillips told a seminar on money laundering in Kingston on Wednesday, “and I am committed to moving even further in that direction to include illegal immigration, kidnapping, extortion, tax evasion, terrorism and illegal gambling under the Money Laundering Act.”

The seminar was hosted by the Jamaica Institute of Bankers and the Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering Programme (CALP), and Phillips urged the bankers to take steps to ensure that persons involved in the drug trade did not feel they were welcome to use local institutions and businesses to rinse their ill-gotten gains.

“While we have introduced these legislation and are working on others, we realise that as a government we cannot, without your help, do all that needs to be done to check money laundering and other crimes in Jamaica. You, as bankers, have a vital stake in this country and I am convinced that you want to help ensure that Jamaica’s name is not tainted as a haven for white-collar criminals. I, therefore, ask for your assistance and co-operation in this stand that all law-abiding citizens should feel it their duty to make against those who would want to enrich themselves at the expense of our children,” Phillips said.

The Money Laundering Act, first introduced in 1996, requires financial institutions, including wire transfer companies, to file reports on suspicious transactions on all transactions of US$50,000 or more, comply with instructions of designated authorities and establish regulatory controls. These attract penalty of fines ranging from $400,000 to $2 million.

In the meanwhile, technical advisor with the CALP, Nyron Davidson, said while money laundering is traditionally linked with organised crime and drug trafficking, it is now strongly associated with terrorism, illegal arms dealing, bribery, embezzlement, insider trading and a host of other crimes. He also cited an increase in the use of technology such as on-line banking, ATM transfers and smart-cards or E-cash transactions.

Davidson said emerging economies were especially at risk, but laundering was a worldwide problem which affected all people.

“Money laundering is a global problem affecting every country on the face of the world. It is not only a Caribbean or offshore problem. It is not a small financial institution problem. It is everybody’s problem. Emerging economies are particularly at risk. Entire jurisdictions have been targeted by fraudsters and money launderers of every ilk. Entire banking sectors have been infiltrated either as owners/controllers or clients.”

Some of the major risks related to money laundering, he said, were legal through potential lawsuits or adverse judgements, reputational if negative publicity arose surrounding an institution’s business practice and operational and regulatory concerns. There was also the real risk of concentration, where early and sudden withdrawal of funds by large depositors could potentially damage the bank’s liquidity.