FATF Satisfied With Bahamas On International Treaties

by Amanda Banks, for LawandTax-News.com, London

15 March 2004

The Bahamas has been considered to have made satisfactory progress on the matter of legal assistance treaties by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the Attorney General Alfred Sears revealed last week

"The executive director of the CFATF (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) informed me that the Financial Action Task Force members are generally pleased by the progress of The Bahamas in dealing with judicial requests," Sears informed parliament last week.

"Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America all indicated that they were pleased with the significant progress made by The Bahamas in responding to outstanding MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties) and other judicial requests," explained Mr Sears.

However, on outstanding regulatory matters, the United States has reported that insufficient progress has been made, the Attorney General revealed.

In addition, Sears noted that the Central Bank of the Bahamas is currently in possession of six outstanding requests from US financial regulator the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) relating to information on accounts held with banks licensed in the jurisdiction.

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