FIU Director Speaks on Anti-Money Laundering Progress…

Eric Eusey

Belize has come under intense scrutiny from agencies within the region for failure to meet international standards in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.  The Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce is one such organization which serves as an umbrella for a majority of the countries within the basin.  In November 2013, Belize was listed as having deliberate shortages where it concerns controls in combating money laundering.  Since then the financial sector, led by the Central Bank of Belize and the Financial Intelligence Unit, has tightened its belt considerably and has set a record for the fastest turnaround of any other jurisdiction with a similar classification.  FIU Director Eric Eusey spoke on the progress that has been made since the initiative began.

Eric Eusey, Director, Financial Intelligence Unit

“The Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce is an organization of twenty-seven jurisdictions of the Caribbean basin that have all agreed to implement the international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing established by the Financial Action Taskforce recommendations, usually referred to as the CFATF recommendations.  Since 2011, Belize has been working closely with the CFATF to address the deficiencies identify in Belize’s EML/CFT regime.  Those efforts were redoubled when in November 2013 the CFATF issued a public statement identifying Belize as having strategic deficiencies in its EML/CFT regime.  Since that time Belize worked tirelessly bringing together technical capacity and strong political will to remedy the situation described by CFATF and set a CFATF record exiting the follow-up process faster than any other jurisdiction with similar levels of deficiencies. In the coming months the Government of Belize will continue to demonstrate that commitment as efforts are undertaken to ensure compliance with new elements of the FATIF recommendations and prepare for the next round of mutual evaluations.”