Government of Belize Working to Pass FATF’s Fourth Mutual Evaluation Exercise.

Prime Minister John Briceño

Over the last few weeks we have been reporting on the legislative amendment exercise that the Government of Belize has been undertaking at the behest of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. Those directives have led to the passage of at least ten legislative amendment bills through the House of Representatives. On Friday alone, seven bills were passed.  To put the entire process into context, at last week’s sitting Prime Minister John Briceño provided further information on the exercise.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The last mutual evaluation or the third round of mutual evaluation happened over a decade ago. It took place around 2011. Unfortunately in all three areas, Belize under the pass U.D.P. administration failed to meet the requisite international standards. As  a result of this the FATF the body that sets the standards  for the institutions that decides if you pass or fail so to speak basically said or systems were not up to standards. The FATF recommended that countries take countermeasures to protect themselves against the weakness and risks created by Belize’s substandard systems. It was no surprise that Belize’s banking system suffered loses of eighty percent of its corresponding banking. Here again, you have a clear example of we said the U.D.P. administration was incompetent. Either they were incompetent or they just didn’t have the capacity to get this important work done. What was the result of their incompetence Madam Speaker; this was part of the reason why we lost eighty percent of our corresponding banking relationships. So, based on a gap an analysis conducted by the National Anti- Money Laundering Committee over the past year it was determined that numerous legislative adjustments needed to be made to meet technical compliance with the forty recommendations handed down by the FATF.”