EU Demands Money Laundering Convictions

Note: Broadcast journalist Deandrè Williamson represented The Bahamas Press Club 2014 at the 7th World Conference Against Death Penalty, which was held in Brussels from February 26 to March 1^st, 2019. Miss Williamson is a former ZNS news reporter, and a former editor and reporter at  JCN. See below, her report from the historic Conference:

EU Demands Money Laundering Convictions

The Bahamas ‘Stubborn’ with Global Financial Obligations

Deandre Williamson

Journal Staff Writer

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – European Union Member of Parliament Sven Giegold called The Bahamas a “stubborn case” as he insisted that the country must carry out money laundering convictions before the nation can be considered for removal from the European Union’s blacklist.

“According to the figures I have, there are no convictions on The Bahamas because of money laundering,” Giegold, who was in Germany, said during an exclusive Skype interview with The Bahama Journal in Brussels, Belgium.

Last month, The Bahamas was blacklisted by the European Union and labeled as a high risk jurisdiction for financial crime.  However, the EU wants action from The Bahamas, which includes enforcing the financial services laws.

According to Giegold, all large financial sectors, like The Bahamas, have money laundering problems and there are globally agreed standards which are violated by fraudsters and people who have money to hide.

“If in certain jurisdictions, although it has a larger financial place, a larger financial center, and nobody is convicted, that is a clear sign that your regime doesn’t deliver,” Giegold said.  “That is the reason why The Bahamas was seen as a country that has not solved all the problems and this is not about destroying anyone’s business.”

Giegold, who is also the coordinator on the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for European Parliament’s Greens Group, pointed out that The Bahamas’ position in the international debate was that the government would fight crime, not money laundering.

 “The position of your government was we will fight drug dealers, we will fight corruption, we will fight trafficking humans and so on, but we will not go after money laundering,” Giegold said, adding that “this is why there is a basically zero positive track record in The Bahamas.”

“This is exactly what is a very unfortunate position because fighting the money coming from crime is one of the most promising levers to fight crime.  So it is not enough to say we fight the original criminality.  We also have to try best to fight dirty money, so that the incentive to do crime is reduced because if you cannot use the money you make with crime, you’ll be less inclined to become criminal. 

“This is the reason why there is this global standard and The Bahamas have to show that you are cleaning up your financial sector and convict the fraudsters and close the accounts of those who have dubious track records of where they got the money from.”

The EU’s decision to blacklist The Bahamas was based on an evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force and an additional evaluation by the EU. 

An analysis was made which indicates that The Bahamas has a number of deficiencies in areas such as criminalization and convictions, customer due diligence in the financial sector, customer due diligence in the nonfinancial sector, powers of competent authorities, sanctions, international cooperation, beneficial ownership information, and targeted financial sanctions.

“The Bahamas is a particular stubborn case and that is the result of the evaluation that has been done,” Giegold said.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis and Attorney General Carl Bethel met with members of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium about the country’s involvement in international financial markets. 

According to Giegold, solving the issues behind the analysis is more important than Bahamian politicians visiting Europe for meetings.  

 “For this, we don’t need meetings in Europe,” he said.  “We want to see convictions and effective cooperation.”

Following the EU’s decision to blacklist The Bahamas, Bethel told the Senate that the government has addressed the concerns of the EU which involves the criminalization of money laundering and terrorist financing by implementing the Proceeds of Crime Act (since 1996) and the Anti-Terrorism Act 2018.

Also, Bethel said the customer due diligence and record keeping requirements were addressed in the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2018, and its predecessor law with the same name, since 2000.

But according to Giegold, passing laws isn’t sufficient, and he explained that The Bahamas must also demonstrate to the public and global community that laws are not only passed, but applied rigorously.

“This means people who have broken rules such as due diligence, have opened offshore companies for criminal people, that they have to come to justice and the respective financial institutions lose their licenses.  There must be real consequences of these laws and then you are credible,” he said, adding that there are also other measures that must be taken before The Bahamas is clean.

Giegold, who is also an economist with specialization in financial crimes, hopes The Bahamas would work cooperatively with the EU because the EU has no intentions of destroying the country’s financial services sector.  He said the EU just wants The Bahamas to conduct business in accordance with globally agreed rules.

“Our subject is that you are a part of a global financial system, an important financial center, and at the same time do not respect the rules which go with open capital accounts.  That is the basis,” he said.” Our cup of tea is, there are global rules and they have to be enforced regardless who is in government.”

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For further information contact: Secretary Lindsay Thompson at (242) 434-5643. Email:thebahamaspressclub@gmail.com.

Website: www.bahamaspressclub.org

Sven Giegold, Member of European Parliament

ECPM Urges Bahamian Govt to Abolish Death Penalty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 3, 2019

Note: Broadcast journalist Deandrè Williamson represented The Bahamas Press Club 2014 at the 7th World Conference Against Death Penalty, which was held in Brussels from February 26 to March 1^st, 2019. Miss Williamson is a former ZNS news reporter, and a reporter at JCN. See below, her report from the historic Conference:

ECPM Urges Bahamian Govt to Abolish Death Penalty

‘Fake Solidarity Hinders Caribbean on Death Penalty Abolition’

Deandre Williamson

Journal Staff Writer

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) Executive Director Raphael Chenuil-Hazan urged the Bahamian government abolish the death penalty and break away from what he calls the “fake solidarity” that seems to be preventing The Bahamas and other English-speaking Caribbean countries from becoming abolitionist states.

Chenuil-Hazan made this plea to the government during an interview with The Bahama Journal at the 7^th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Brussels, Belgium where he expressed concerns over The Bahamas keeping the death penalty as law and not using it.  

Other English-speaking Caribbean countries do the same and Chenuil-Hazan considers this practice as a bad example.

“It’s kind of shaming and I don’t like shaming,” he said. “But it’s a reality of original solidarity.  I think that some countries in the Caribbean should stop this fake regional solidarity.”

ECPM is a French nongovernmental organization with a mission to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

Although The Bahamas is identified by Amnesty International as one of the 52 retentionist states around the world where the death penalty is implemented, The Bahamas has a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. 

The last execution took place in The Bahamas in 2000 when Bahamian national David Mitchell was hanged after being convicted for the murders of two German tourists.  Mitchell had an appeal pending before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights at the time of his execution.

However, the imposition of the death penalty in The Bahamas is no longer mandatory following a Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s decision in a case, which ruled that judges can exercise discretion and should sentence only “the worst of the worst” and the “rarest of the rare” to death.

According to Chenuil-Hazan, breaking away from the “fake solidarity” would lead The Bahamas to a formal moratorium on the death penalty. 

He suggested that The Bahamas embrace the United Nations General Assembly Moratorium Resolution and not continuously follow other Caribbean countries by voting against it.

“The Bahamas should vote,” Chenuil-Hazan said.  “It’s normal.  It’s logical.  Dominica should vote in favour, but they don’t just because of this strange solidarity.  You should go beyond and have your own identity based on your own situation.”

In a report released by the Advocates for Human Rights, The Greater Caribbean for Life, and The World Coalition against the Death Penalty, The Bahamas has voted against every United Nations General Assembly Moratorium Resolution and up until 2012, The Bahamas also signed the Note Verbale of Dissociation from the resolution each year.

If The Bahamas receives a formal moratorium on the death penalty, the country would be globally recognized as a state with a moratorium on executions. 

Amnesty International identifies countries with formal moratoriums as states or territories where the death penalty is implemented, but no executions have been carried out for at least 10 years and which did not oppose the latest United Nations Resolution for a universal moratorium on executions.

In addition, Chenuil-Hazan also suggested that the government should begin to shape the public’s opinion so that Bahamians who are in favour of the death penalty would understand that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime.

Using China as an example, Chenuil-Hazan explained that thousands of Chinese are executed each year, but there is no decrease in China’s crime rate.

“So when you execute hundreds and thousands of people every year, you take the risk of becoming a dictatorship and break the rule of law,” he explained.  “Do you want to be in a democracy with rule of law or in a dictatorship with hundreds and hundreds of killings?”

The ECPM director added that the government should have a strong willingness to educate Bahamians so that public opinion would change and Bahamians would understand that ending the death penalty is a part of entering a new world that has been embraced by countries in South America, Europe and Africa.

While abolishing the death penalty may be complicated for some to understand, applying it increases crime, according to Chenuil-Hazan.

“Applying the death penalty would bring violence, state violence,” Chenuil-Hazan said.  “The death penalty is a violence, when you kill someone.  It is a violence and it is a symbolic state violence.”

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For further information contact: Secretary Lindsay Thompson at (242) 434-5643. Email:thebahamaspressclub@gmail.com.

Website: www.bahamaspressclub.org

Bahamas Press Club Member, broadcast journalist Deandrè Williamson attended the 7th World Conference Against Death Penalty, in Brussels from February 26 to March 1st, 2019. She is pictured at the European Parliament interviewing ECPM Executive Director, Raphael Chenuil-Hazan.