2014 International Report lists Belize as a money laundering country

The following is not good news for the jewel despite a raft of legislation passed in February that includes the Financial Intelligence Unit Amendment Act and the Money Laundering and Terrorism Prevention Bill. Still today, Belize was named in a list of countries considered as major money laundering countries around the world. The 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report which has just been released by the US State Department also names Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas and Haiti as well as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman as primary money laundering states and jurisdictions in the Caribbean whose “financial institutions engage in currency transactions involving significant amounts of proceeds from international narcotics trafficking.” The report also notes that Belize, Bahamas, Haiti and Jamaica had been classified as major drug-transit countries. According to the report, Belizean officials suspect there is money laundering activity at the Commercial Free Zone up north as well as at the smaller Benque Viejo del Carmen Free Zone. And Belizean authorities believe the free zones are heavily involved in trade-based money laundering and the illicit importation of duty free products. Belize is also described as a transhipment point for marijuana and cocaine with strong indications that laundered proceeds are increasingly related to organized criminal groups involved in the trafficking of illegal narcotics, psychotropic substances, and chemical precursors.  A statement from Washington said that, “this year’s list of major money laundering countries recognizes this relationship by including all countries and other jurisdictions, whose financial institutions engage in transactions involving significant amounts of proceeds from all serious crime.”