…Says FIU Has Undergone Internal Strengthening

Eric Eusey

Those shortcomings, according to Eusey, were quite a few, beginning with laws and amendments that were both antiquated.  The move, he says, has been to successfully bolster the autonomy of the FIU.

Eric Eusey, Director, Financial Intelligence Unit

“Our deficiencies were several.  First in the area of the legal, our laws were a bit outdated.  Our first money laundering act was enacted in 1996 and it was subsequently amended in 2008.  But even with that amendment, when the review was done in 2011, 2012 it was felt that it was deficient in that, for example, the penalties for money laundering was too low and they were not strong enough.  So an urge was made to improve those and those were strengthened substantially in 2014, the February act where the penalties when you see them they are referred to as dissuasive.  In other words, it would change your mind if you want to conduct any money laundering in any of the financial institutions in Belize.  And because that legislation was enacted it was felt that we are largely compliant in that respect.  The other area was the independence of the FIU.  It was felt that the FIU was not strong enough and independent of the government to conduct its investigations and other activities so that they can have an unencumbered result.  When the assessment was done on the FIU in 2011, the FIU was housed at the Central Bank and it was felt that that was not an ideal arrangement.  Subsequent to that, the following year in 2012, the FIU acquired its own building.  It acquired its own computer servers and equipment, it engaged system administrator which we didn’t have before and also in 2014 the legislation was amended to strengthen the independence of the FIU.”