Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Government is set to make further amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, in an effort to bolster the security forces’ ability to respond to financial crimes.

Michele Lemmon, senior policy director at the Ministry of National Security, made the announcement yesterday (February 2) during the second day of the Financial Investigation Division (FID) Biennial Conference, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Said Lemmon: “Notwithstanding the legislative framework and operational efforts Jamaica has made, there are still considerable gaps to be filled to strengthen Jamaica’s anti-money laundering, counter financing of terrorism and counter financing of proliferation regimes (AML/CFT).”

She noted that the amendments will be made to establish unexplained wealth orders (UWO) and an asset recovery incentivisation scheme.

She said there is support for the introduction of the UWO at various levels of society, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, to bring scrutiny on wealth in the wider society.

“While the Corruption Prevention Act and the Integrity Commission Act prescribe measures for public officials and parliamentarians to make annual statutory declarations, there is currently no regime to treat with individuals in the wider society to give account for the legitimacy of their wealth,” Lemmon noted.

According to the 2017 Criminal Finances Act and Criminal Property and Forfeiture Act of 2005, a unexplained wealth can be defined as the ownership of an asset by an individual that is disproportionate to his lawful earnings.

The policy director said: “UWO will allow the court to compel an individual to explain the sources of their wealth which is the shifting of the onus of proof to the individual to prove their wealth or asset was acquired through legitimate means. If the individual is unable to substantiate the lawful source, then enforcement authorities will be empowered to take necessary steps through the court to restrain those assets.”

She also said that the ministry was currently in the process of developing a policy paper for the legislative amendments and conducting consultations with the Attorney General’s Chambers to ensure that all constitutional rights are considered.

“Jamaica is in the process of developing an asset recovery incentivisation scheme (ARIS) and regulations pursuant to section 44(3) of the Proceeds of Crime Act. This type of scheme operates in most jurisdictions with proceeds of crime legislations. While the beneficiaries and distribution formula differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the funds collected are usually reinvested to improve the capacity of law enforcement or the criminal justice system as a whole,” she said.

Lemmon noted that the ARIS is aimed at providing additional resources to law enforcement entities to tackle financial crimes and improve their capacity and operational effectiveness.

“I personally think it would be great to use the same resources taken from criminals to go after them,” she noted.

Dr Horace Chang, the minister of national security, also noted that amendments to the POCA will send a clear signal as to where the country stands in its fight against financial crimes.

“We are looking carefully at the amendment of the POCA to provide, through the FID, MOCA and relevant security organisation enough tools to really intervene because the criminal activity is a business. The object is to earn money, clearly the public impact of buying weapons, killing citizens, traumatises society, all of this come back to those who are earning money and buying the guns,” Chang said.

He also noted that a challenge faced in combating criminal activities is that Jamaica is a cash-dependent economy.

“There are huge challenges in tracking and tracing illicit funds in cash dependent economies like ours,” he said.

He further noted that, while this may pose a challenge to tracking illicit funds, the security forces are committed to finding ways to deal with financial crimes through greater collaboration.