The Jamaica Government will moving swiftly to ensure that attorneys-at-law fulfil their obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to assist in preventing the abuse of the financial system by
criminals seeking to launder illicit proceeds.

In a statement following today’s ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, in favour of Jamaica’s anti-money laundering law requiring attorneys to report instances of financial crimes in dealing with their clients, Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke said the decision was a gamechanger in Jamaica’s efforts to ensure that the financial system is not abused to launder the proceeds of criminal activity.

“The decision handed down by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council today represents the firm commitment and resolve of the Government of Jamaica to bring its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating of Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) regime into compliance with international standards,” Clarke said.

The Privy Council handed down its judgment on an appeal brought by the Attorney General of Jamaica and the General Legal Council against the ruling of the Court of Appeal that certain aspects of the statutory regime in Jamaica for combatting money laundering in its application to attorneys-at-law, interfere with, without demonstrable justification, privacy and liberty rights guaranteed by the Jamaican Constitution.

The Privy Council heard the arguments on the November 29 and November 30 last year the ruling was given today in what Clarke noted was an “expeditious” time frame.

The finance minister noted that the Privy Council was unanimous in their verdict that “… the Regime does not breach attorneys’ or their clients’ constitutional rights. It follows that…. the order of the Full Court (ie the Supreme Court) should be restored”.

Said Clarke: “Having regard to the ruling of the Privy Council, Jamaica will now move with expedition to ensure that attorneys-at-law fulfil their obligations under the POCA as part of the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP) framework, in preventing the abuse of the financial system by criminals seeking to launder illicit proceeds.”

He added: “With the matter of the attorneys being under the framework now settled, Jamaica would have satisfied the international standards of bringing all DNFBPs under its AML/CFT framework. This decision enables the General Legal Council to resume its role of monitoring compliance by attorneys and as the first step, with support from Jamaica’s AML/CFT Prime Contact Secretariat at the BOJ, to re-sensitise attorneys, particularly with regard to the suspicious transaction reporting regime.”

READ: Privy Council rules in favour of anti-money laundering law for attorneys