POCA: The sleeping giant awakes

[Lazie]

Less than three years after the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) was passed into law, criminals are beginning to feel its bite.

Local authorities have already used the legislation to wrest close to half of a billion dollars in cash out of the hands of wrongdoers.

International data suggest that illegal drugs with a street value of some US$4 billion move from Colombia through the Caribbean into the United States. Much of this pass through the trans-shipment port of Jamaica.

While it is unclear how much of the income from these illegal operations remain in the island, it is assumed that a significant percentage of the money passes through the hands of local criminals. Some seep into the formal economy through money-laundering processes.

Statistics from the Financial Investigations Division (FID) provided through the Ministry of National Security revealed that approximately US$1.36 million ($120.8 million) has been forfeited from criminals, while $329.2 million in raw cash - seven different currencies, including Jamaican dollars - has been seized so far under the POCA.

Just over $75.1 million of that figure has already been sent to the state coffers.

Fight against crime

The data provided by FID also showed that cheques worth some $35 million are to be sent to the Accountant General, while close to half of a million United States dollars in cash and money orders have been forfeited but cannot be negotiated in Jamaica.

FID also noted that property with a value of $1.8 million has been forfeited.

Still, some analysts think that the POCA remains, largely, a sleeping giant in the midst of this national fight against crime. Dr Peter Phillips is one of them.

Chairman of the joint select committee of Parliament which examined the POCA legislation, Dr Phillips, told The Sunday Gleaner that the act is yet to be fully utilised. He believes more could have been accomplished since its inception.

"We haven't maximised the potential benefits ... It would seem to me that we are still in the early phase of using all the powers available under the act," he said.

"It was really designed to ultimately give you a resource, a weapon that could be used to dismantle organised criminal enterprises, and that requires a tremendous exercise of will as well as skill," Phillips added.

Acceptance, on both sides of the political divide, that the two previous pieces of legislation that covered such matters were woefully inadequate led to the crafting and subsequent introduction of the POCA. "The act was enacted to improve the country's capacity to investigate money laundering and confiscate ill-gotten gains.

"This was necessary due to several weaknesses in the then existing Money Laundering Act and the Drugs Offences (Forfeiture of Proceeds) Act," read a section of a response provided by the Financial Investigations Division through the Ministry of National Security.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com.


The passage of the POCA:


Improves the security forces, particularly Financial Investi-gations Division's ability to effectively address financial crimes, through the following tools:

Improve and impose new anti-money laundering requirements on financial institutions, so as to better deter money-laundering transactions.

It provides for the naming of Designated Non-Financial Busi-nesses and Professions, such as used-car dealers, real estate brokers, accountants and lawyers, who are required to comply to the country's AML regime.

Incorporate the concept of criminal lifestyle, general criminal conduct and the use of rebuttable assumptions in determining where a defendant has benefited from criminal conduct and quantifying the extent of the benefit.

Going after the proceeds of crime - UK: 'Jamaica, important partner in fight against corruption'
THE TOP prosecutor in the United Kingdom (UK) says the confiscation of the assets of criminals across the British and Jamaican borders "got off to a slow start", but he is anticipating an acceleration of the process.

"The cooperation is good, but it has to be said that the work on (seizing) the proceeds of crime got off to a slow start," UK Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer told The Sunday Gleaner.

"I anticipate that it now will increase in volume ... in the confiscation of assets, and ... in importance between us. I think things will be moving more rapidly in the future."

Jamaica passed the Proceeds of Crime Act in early 2007. The law gives legislative power to the State to forfeit property and confiscate the proceeds obtained by criminals through drug trafficking money laundering, or other crimes.

Combating terrorism

"We consider Jamaica to be an important partner in our work fighting drugs and corruption, and that's why we are very keen to work here in Jamaica collaboratively," Starmer said in an interview during a visit to the island last week. "So, we see Jamaica as an important partner in the global fight against drugs and corruption."

He disclosed that cases involving Jamaicans trafficking in narcotics by swallowing cocaine pellets, or transporting it in body cavities, "are going down in the UK", although the problem remained high with the influx of illegal drugs from other countries.

The UK's chief prosecutor also welcomed the "high degree of international cooperation" among judicial authorities in combating terrorism. He said the UK has a "specialist counterterrorism division" that collaborated across borders to successfully prosecute the individuals who were plotting to blow up seven aeroplanes in flight from the UK to the United States. "The level of cooperation is very high," Starmer stated.

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[Lazie]

Hit them where it hurts! Former national security minister urges Government to utilise the powers of the POCA to strip high-profiling criminals of their wealth


Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Former Minister of National Security, Dr Peter Phillips, is urging the government to launch a systematic campaign to identify the major players in organised crime in the country, drag them before the courts and strip them of their wealth.

According to Phillips, by utilising the powers contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the government can hit the criminals hard.

He pointed out that the act provides for "civil forfeiture of property where you can demonstrate a criminal lifestyle ... (if) the assets held don't have any legitimate source of origin".

So, if Phillips has his way, the panache long associated with criminality would be put under the microscope, with the owners of lavish mansions and posh cars being targeted.

"To make the dent in this particular respect is really going to require a sustained and logical sequence to identify your major figures of organised crime and to decide to use the act," Phillips said in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner.

Effective utilisation

He argued that the effective utilisation of the POCA demands the preservation of international partnerships.

"It is also going to require that you work closely with your international partners, with forensic accounting, and the tracing of property, even into foreign jurisdictions. That also requires will and, of course, those partnerships are two-way partnerships," he said.

Dr Phillips only had the POCA at his disposal, as national security minister, for some four months, but argues that during his tenure, people were sent for training, and the powers of the act were used in a couple of cases.

He also argued that his administration was at the point of appointing additional staff when the 2007 general election was called.

Now Phillips does not believe the law is being used adequately.

However, Major Richard Reece, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, said an operation of that nature is part of the ministry's thrust.

Reece, who would not go in detail due to security concerns, said the operation in question spans several entities, including the Financial Investigations Division and the Jamaica Customs Department.

"... Usually, you don't speak about these operations until you have acted.

"What we have is a multi-agency task force that addresses the issue of proceeds of crime and organised crime and it will cover the entire range from lotto scam (to) illicit financial schemes - the whole gamut," Reece said.

He explained that the multi-agency approach is necessary because it is sometimes difficult to get certain criminal charges to stick on some offenders.

"It is becoming increasingly joined up, in terms of our approach. Usually, if you can't apprehend the person in terms of, maybe, narcotics trafficking, you can get them on, maybe, tax evasion under the Proceeds of Crime (act)," Reece said.

Lengthy preparation

But George Soutar, attorney-at-law and president of the Advocates' Association of Jamaica, told The Sunday Gleaner that cases brought before the court under the POCA tend to be time-consuming.

"I don't know that there are many matters completed so far (under the POCA). It's a new law and the cases take time to prepare," he said.

Soutar explained that tracing financial transactions and obtaining documents capable of being admitted in evidence are all part of the lengthy preparation process required in cases brought before the court under the POCA, which was passed into law on the last day of May 2007.

Two of Soutar's clients have been charged with criminal offences under the POCA. The cases, which started a few months ago, are still before the courts.

He believes time and cases will test the mettle of the legislation passed by the nation's lawmakers. "It is going to be tested by the courts. Its inadequacies or otherwise will certainly be explored in the courts," Soutar said.

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