Cayman Uses Real Cases of Criminality, to Thwart Criminality

Real-life criminal attempts – including from the Cayman Islands – involving real estate, drug trafficking, jewellery, non-profit organisations, corporate services, tax evasion, and trade – are being used to sharpen Cayman’s use of law enforcement and regulatory intelligence, to better prevent our Islands’ business regime from being misused.

Details of past attempts, locally and globally, have been compiled into the Cayman Islands Anti-Money Laundering Steering Group’s Money Laundering Typologies and Trends. While the publication’s title focuses on money laundering (ML), it also describes past cases of terrorist financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF, referring to weapons of mass destruction).

“Although identities of persons and companies are not provided in the publication, the cases will make interesting reading for the public. No doubt it will raise their awareness of these types of crimes,” said the Attorney General, the Hon. Samuel Bulgin, QC.

“But foremost, this publication is for financial institutions, and designated non-financial businesses and professions – a group that includes realtors, dealers of precious metals and stones, and accountants. Providing these actual cases will help them to develop even more effective policies and procedures to prevent, detect, and respond to these crimes.”

The Attorney General said the publication’s data came from the Financial Crimes Unit, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, Financial Reporting Authority, Department of Commerce and Investment, and General Registry; Cayman’s 2015 National Risk Assessment; and international sources.

He thanked the local agencies for their expert support; Chief Officer Reshma Sharma and the Anti-Money Laundering Steering Unit, for coordinating and overseeing the initiative; and Government Information Services for designing the publication.

AMLSG National Coordinator Elisabeth Lees said the publication is an important step in fulfilling the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) recommended actions, outlined in its March 2019 report, regarding Cayman’s regime against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. Ms Lees is coordinating Cayman’s response, from both the public and private sectors, to the CFATF report.

“The typologies and trends publication specifically addresses CFATF’s point that Cayman improve its use of intelligence to better counter these crimes. It therefore will be credited toward our positive and tangible progress in meeting the CFATF recommended actions,” she said, noting that Cayman has until February 2020 to demonstrate its progress.