FIU to Return $3.2M to Caribbean International Brewery

Caribbean International Brewery, maker of Mine Beer, was raided by immigration authorities, as well as the Financial Intelligence Unit, in October 2022.  Eleven persons were taken into custody and three point two million dollars was confiscated by the F.I.U.  Earlier this month, all persons, Asian nationals, were found not guilty and subsequently released.  On Friday, the court also ordered the F.I.U. to return the sum of money to CIBCL after it failed to establish a case after seizing the funds from the factory in Carmelita.  Senior Counsel Dean Barrow, whose law firm represents the owners of Caribbean International Brewery, spoke with us about the recent developments.

Dean Barrow

Dean Barrow, Attorney-at-law

“We continued to represent them with respect to the cash that had been seized and on Thursday what happened was that the last order that the court had made to allow the FIU to continue to detain the cash expired that very day.  The FIU sent us an advance copy of a new application which they never filed until the very day of the hearing, the date the previous order was expiring and made clear that they would be asking for further extension of the detention.  It appeared for another six months, the last order last from January until last week.  So that was for six months.  Mr. Waight, who has been accompanying me the entire time, he went up to represent the firm and to advocate for the company.  I couldn’t make the particular hearing.  Long story short, at the end of the proceedings, Mr. Waight made several objections and made several representations.  The magistrate adjourned and gave her decision the following day.  That decision was that the FIU was not any longer entitled to hold the money.  She would not make an order extending the detention because the FIU had failed to show that there was a good reason for continuing to detain the money.       In other words, they needed to convince the magistrate that our investigation is proceeding and it is bearing fruit and we feel that very shortly, we’ll be in a position to bring charges with respect to this cash.  They put up an affidavit, but I will tell you that having read it, I found it utterly unconvincing and clearly so did the magistrate.”

Arrangements have been made for the money to be transferred to CIBCL’s account via bank transfer.  An application for judicial review has also been filed to look at the legality of the raid, as well as the seizure of money from the company.