Last week the Parliament of St. Vincent and the Grenadines approved the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Regulations, 2002. The Regulations were drafted by Mr Fitzroy Drayton of the Caribbean Anti Money Laundering Programme and were fine tuned at a Consultation hosted by the Offshore Finance Authority and the Attorney General's Chambers earlier in the month. Representatives from the legal, accounting and finance community as well as senior government officials attended the Consultation.
The Regulations are in effect the new 'due diligence' laws of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These Regulations are in fact the practical guidelines to the newly passed Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering (Prevention) Act that financial institutions and persons engaged in relevant business activities must follow. In particular the Regulations set out the record keeping, identification and reporting requirements for such institutions.
The Offshore Finance Authority says it is particularly pleased that the Regulations address the particular concern of the Financial Action Task Force about the existence of anonymous accounts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Regulations have a transitional provision, namely section 10, which ensures that all existing anonymous accounts must disclose their beneficial owners within one year of these Regulations.
Other aspects of the Regulations provide standard internationally accepted procedures that must be followed in order to ascertain the identity of an individual or legal entity, as well as sound record keeping procedures.
The Regulations will be easy to follow as they have a Schedule which sets out a Procedure for the Verification of individuals, corporate entities, partnerships or unincorporated businesses and facilities established by telephone or internet.
The Offshore Finance Authority will be coordinating a rigorous educational programme to ensure that the persons and institutions who are covered by the Regulations will be made aware of their relevant due diligence responsibilities.
The Regulations can be viewed at www.stvincentoffshore.com; a set of Guidelines complementing the new Regulations will shortly be made available on the website.
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