Church not saved from fraudsters

Leaders of places of worship in Barbados are being warned to be on the lookout for money laundering and to put measures in place to help stop this from taking place through the church system.

This caution came on Tuesday as fraud and anti-money laundering specialists fielded questions from the public during the question and answer segment of the Financial Fraud in Barbados session of the Central Bank of Barbados 2021 Domestic Financial Institutions Conference.

During the online session, Kirk Taitt, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), said churches should not consider themselves exempt from potential money laundering.

In fact, he said they too, like financial institutions, should put procedures in place to help prevent this from taking place.

“They should put measures in place to ensure that they have a sense as to where funds come from when they pass a certain threshold. In these days persons are using churches to commit fraud as well,” said Taitt.

“It is in the best interest of the governance of the church to make sure that they can address any potential risk that might emerge,” he said.

Meanwhile, Acting police Inspector Sonia Thompson urged pastors and church leaders not to be afraid to report suspicious activities.

“One of the things we can do is come to that congregation and provide some tips and sensitize them as it relates to what we consider, and basically from legislation, what is considered money laundering and illicit gains,” she said.

“So [the pastor] can bring in some experts and let them speak to them and just make them aware of where they can go wrong and then if you recognise patterns and you are able to identify [money laundering] certainly reach out to us and we can covertly start investigations,” advised Thompson.

This final session of the conference came the same day lawmakers discussed the Prevention of Corruption Bill in the Lower House.

Thompson, who is attached to the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCIU) in the police force, assured participants during the Central Bank event that there were adequate laws in place that allowed authorities to bring perpetrators of fraud to justice.

Adding that the FCIU worked closely with the fraud squad of the force, the FIU and other stakeholders in its quest to prosecute guilty individuals, Thompson said “We have our Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime Act, which works alongside the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the regular acts that we use when we are looking at fraud-related matters.”

She said there have been two successful detentions of cash in recent times.

“There was a third one that we were successful with, but that one is presently being appealed,” she added. (MM)