Civil Assets Recovery & Unexplained Wealth Bill Brought to House

Prime Minister John Briceño

The Briceño administration introduced a bill to the House of Representatives today that is a step forward in tackling the scourge of corruption in Belize.  The Civil Asset Recovery and Unexplained Wealth Bill will give the Government of Belize, through the Financial Intelligence Unit, the authority to recover assets and wealth acquired by individuals through criminal means. The F.I.U., under the act, will be given the power to acquire an Unexplained Wealth Order where a suspicion arises. The order once issued will require that individual to explain reveal their source of assets and wealth before the High Court. Prime Minister John Briceño explained.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The Civil Recovery Authority will need to obtain a preliminary unexplained Wealth Order requiring an individual to file a declaration of wealth and appear before the high court to answer questions. If the individual provides misleading information, it may amount an offense. What is important here is that we want to have the FIU the ability to be able to go after unexplained wealth and assets that were illegally taken. But at the same time we have to ensure we protect the rights of individual because as I said in this country we live by the principle that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty But we are also pointing out that that individual also has to come clean, to provide evidence how he or she or the company acquired that asset or who that wealth is in his or her possession. We also know we have all of these drug people, drug lords within the country and they don’t work but are driving these fancy vehicles. This will give us the ability to pull them in and explain how they have their wealth, what work they do.”