Governor Eugene Holiday used his keynote address at the Caribbean Association of Banks (CAB) 46th conference (see Friday paper) to once again stress the importance of taking urgent measures to address real or perceived gaps regarding compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards concerning money-laundering and the financing of international terrorism.
St. Maarten has partially done so, but the job remains unfinished.
While Parliament adopted the proposed changes in question to the Civil and Criminal Codes, such has not yet been the case for those to the Penal Procedure Code that are also required. One factor is that the relevant adjustments were made part of an ongoing revision of the entire code that includes other things like anchoring the already-existing “crown witness” option by law.
Some elected representatives are uncomfortable about having to approve these in their eyes non-related but profound issues under pressure to meet the FATF deadline and prevent the country’s blacklisting as doubtful fiscal jurisdiction, with all possible consequences. The obvious solution would be to only amend what is really needed for now and take time to properly deal with the other stuff later.
It’s a serious matter that simply cannot be delayed any longer because there are huge potential implications, as the governor pointed out. There is a reason he also mentioned it as priority task for the next interim cabinet that NA leader Silveria Jacobs is currently forming.
This is something that must be taken care of sooner rather than later.
