KINGSTON, Jamaica — A total of 1,018 attorneys were registered on the goAML (anti-money laundering) platform in Jamaica as at December 31, 2024.

This represents an increase of 329 per cent when compared to 2023 according to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). The information is contained in the 2024 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ), an annual publication of the PIOJ.

According to the survey, the Financial Investigations Division (FID), Jamaica’s top financial crimes agency, continued to pursue its mandate under the Financial Investigations Division Act (2010), the Proceeds of Crimes Act (2007), the Terrorism Prevention Act (2005) and the United Nations Council Resolutions Implementation Act (UNSCRIA). This, in a bid to “strengthen Jamaica’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework”.

It said the sharp increase in the number of attorneys registering was achieved through a collaborative effort with the General Legal Council and the Financial Intelligence Unit.

The goAML platform is an online system for filing suspicious and threshold transactions reports. The PIOJ said there were 1,696 reporting entities registered on the goAML platform, representing a 118 per cent increase compared to 2023. The FID received and processed 112,412 reports as at December 31, 2024 compared with 101,715 reports as at December 31, 2023 and 89,760 reports as at December 31, 2022.

Effective May 31, in line with its mandate of taking the profit out of crime, the FID/Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) finalised and approved the Asset Recovery Branch’s Procedural Manual and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all assets except digital currencies.

The Agency pursued multiple actions that led to the forfeiture and disposal of assets and realised $21.7 million from the sale of a forfeited property.