An interesting ruling is expected on Tuesday in the injunction filed by lottery boss Robbie dos Santos (see related story) against Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (MCB) headquartered in Curaçao and its St. Maarten-based subsidiary Windward Islands Bank (WIB) for dropping him as client effective March 1. They are doing this because of the so-called “correspondence banking” issue whereby US banks are in fear of huge sanctions for not doing their part in combatting money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
This forces them to “de-risk,” whereby even indirect relations with activities that supposedly lend themselves to such practices are shunned. Because local banks need to maintain ties with American financial institutions for international transactions, there is little choice but to comply with their wishes.
While Dos Santos has been tried and convicted for tax evasion and money laundering, his Robbie’s Lottery operating on both islands is licensed to sell tickets for legal, government-regulated daily numbers drawings. The question can consequently be asked whether a legitimate business should not be able to operate by – among other things – having access to a bank account.
Mind you, this problem could affect others as well. With more than a dozen casinos, the Dutch side appears vulnerable in that regard and there have already been court cases about banks wanting to end ties with at least one of these gambling houses.
Casinos already have an unusual-transaction reporting duty to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) formerly known as MOT, but a bit more supervision certainly wouldn’t hurt. The hosting of the fourth annual Dutch Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering and Gaming Regulation Forum at Maho June 4-7 is therefore important and will hopefully finally lead to the long-awaited Gaming Control Board (GCB) being established, once andfor all.
