Investigating Financial Crimes in Jamaica: A Practical Perspective

• Author: Christine Chambers and Alwyn Herriman
• Pages: 329-351

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INVESTIGATING FINANCIAL

CRIMES IN JAMAICA:

A Practical Perspective

Christine Chambers and Alwyn HerrimanFinancial investigators in Jamaica have been given a boost in their

artillery to tackle the perpetrators of nancial crimes. at boost

came in the form of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 2007 (POCA) which

became operational on May 30, 2007. e Act provides investigators

with an expanded arsenal of prosecutable oences supported by several

investigative orders. e prize in the minds of nancial investigators,

however, was the inclusion of civil recovery provisions with judicial

determination being based on a balance of probabilities.

is chapter compares the nancial investigative process prior

to POCA with that of the period after it took eect, from legal and

operational perspectives.

Background

Jamaica, because of its geographic location, fell victim to the

expansion in the 1980s of the drug trade between the cocaine producing

countries of South America and the consuming nations of North

America and the United Kingdom. It is well-recognised that the allure

of the drug trade is not, for most Jamaicans involved, to consume the

end product but the nancial gain from being party to its distribution

and sale. e result of a successful sale and distribution network for

narcotics is a huge amount of raw cash. is cash is considered the

proceeds of crime and it is a well-known fact that dirty money does not

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travel alone. In order for narcotics trackers to enjoy the proceeds of

their crime, they invariably have to legitimise its source, that is launder

it. Recognising the impact that money laundering and the nancing

of terrorism can have on the social, economic and political stability of

the country, Jamaica signed and ratied several key Conventions and

Treaties, both regionally and internationally. ese include, inter alia,

the following:

•UN Convention Against Illicit Trac in Narcotic Drugs and

Psychotropic Substances (1988) (e Vienna Convention);

•UN Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime

(1999) (e Palermo Convention);

•UN Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Financing

(1999);

•Inter American Convention Against Terrorism (2002); and

•United Nations Security Council Resolutions, particularly

Resolution 1373.

e country then embarked on a programme to implement the

relevant Conventions through the enactment of appropriate legislation

and the establishment of suitable operational organisations to

implement the legislation.

Towards implementation, the Drug Oences (Forfeiture of

Proceeds) Act was passed in 1994 followed by the Money Laundering

Act in 1996. e Financial Crimes Unit, a special unit tasked with

the investigation of nancial crimes, was also established in June 2001

and fully staed with forensic accountants, attorneys-at-law, police

ocers, an asset manager and administrative support sta. A picture

perfect situation in theory, but from a practical standpoint the nancial

investigators in Jamaica were severely challenged by weak legislation.

e Drug Oences (Forfeiture of Proceeds) Act was conviction-based,

limited to specied oences and contained no pre-charge investigative

tools. is law made no provision for the management of criminal

assets and had no recourse if the defendant died or absconded. e

Money Laundering Act also presented several diculties. Proving the

money laundering oence required the investigator to show the nexus

between the specied oence and the particular benet obtained from

that oence. e oences specied in the Act were limited to drug