The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE ATTORNEY general yesterday blamed the former Christie administration’s inaction for The Bahamas’ being branded a “high risk” financial crime jurisdiction by the European Union (EU).

Carl Bethel QC slammed as “absolutely baseless” the opposition’s assertion that the Minnis administration’s “incompetence” led to The Bahamas’ inclusion on the EU’s 23-nation list. Instead, he argued that it was its predecessor that set off the chain reaction leading to the EU’s move by failing to address deficiencies identified by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).

Accusing the Christie government of “utter neglect”, Mr Bethel said it did little to remedy the weaknesses highlighted by the CFATF’s review of this nation’s anti-financial crime defences in 2015.

The CFATF, the regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which sets the global anti-money laundering and terror financing standards, published its report on The Bahamas just after the May 2017 general election.

As a result, Mr Bethel argued that the Minnis administration had been forced to play “catch up” and hurriedly address these woes from the moment it took office. Despite its best efforts, it had been left with too little time to ensure The Bahamas escaped the FATF’s subsequent monitoring list, with this nation’s inclusion leading directly to the EU branding it “high risk”.

Speaking out ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Bethel said: “The commissioners of the EU had decided, based on certain anti-money laundering directives received from the European Parliament, that they would populate this list and they unjustifiably added The Bahamas based on old information.

“The fact is The Bahamas has greatly improved its anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing framework since 2017 when we came to office. When we came to office we met a state of utter neglect by the former government of this vital aspect of our governance.”

The opposition’s leader, Philip Davis, this week asserted that the government’s “incompetence” resulted in the EU action.

Blasting such claims as “absolutely baseless”, Mr Bethel added: “If you want to talk about incompetence, look at the record between 2015 and 2017. They failed to do anything of substance between 2015 and 2017. That is why The Bahamas got placed into the FATF action plan.

“If they really want to have a debate about it, it won’t go well or them because the facts are the facts. We are trying to have a mature approach to this. We don’t want to get into name calling, finger pointing or any thing like that.

“For the opposition to spew falsehoods against the prime minister and this government is not something that will be tolerated. We will answer with truth. The truth is that between 2015 and 2017 nothing was done to address what they knew were the concerns of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and the Financial Action Task Force,” Mr Bethel continued.

“The reason we got listed in this European Union Commission list, of which we knew nothing until January 21 after the prime minister left [Brussels], is because of perceived deficiencies in our anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing framework.

“The deficiencies have been very largely addressed. This is why we were placed on the action plan by the FATF in October of 2018, but in December they [the CFATF] re-rated us as being compliant in 30 out of 40 [FATF recommendations], right in company with the United States and other major countries in the world.”

As to how the government intends to respond to the EU action, Mr Bethel said: “We have been working on a strategy. We have been in consultation with lawyers who are very familiar with the workings of the EU and are aware of who the key personalities are and, in short order, the government will engage in the necessary consultations to see what we can do about this listing.”