Financial Crime World

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Mutual Evaluation Report of St. Kitts and Nevis by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)

The CFATF has released a Mutual Evaluation Report on St. Kitts and Nevis, evaluating its compliance with international standards on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT).

Key Findings

FIU Oversight

  • The report highlights that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is overseen by an officer external to the FIU who is employed by the Ministry of Finance, raising concerns about data confidentiality and independence.

ML Investigations

  • St. Kitts and Nevis has a well-established technical framework for investigating money laundering (ML) and conducting prosecutions.
  • However, there were only six (6) ML investigations each for 2019 and 2020, and two (2) for the first three months of 2021, indicating a low level of ML investigations.

Prosecutions

  • At the time of the onsite visit, there were eight (8) prosecutions before the court for self-laundering ML.
  • Despite this, there were no ML convictions in St. Kitts and Nevis during the review period.

Confiscation Proceedings

  • Until March 2021, St. Kitts and Nevis did not have a national policy objective for the confiscation of criminal proceeds, instrumentalities, and property of equivalent value for ML.
  • There was no dedicated unit within the WCCU or DPP for conducting confiscation proceedings or asset forfeiture under POCA.

Asset Recovery

  • St. Kitts and Nevis has limited experience in asset recovery with foreign counterparts, either for proceeds of foreign predicates located in the jurisdiction or proceeds from domestic predicates laundered outside St. Kitts and Nevis.

Cross Border Reports (CBRs)

  • The CFATF investigated two matters where false declarations were considered during the period under review.
  • The cases were also forwarded to the FIU and WCCU, where the potential for ML was also investigated.

This report highlights areas of improvement for St. Kitts and Nevis in its AML/CFT regime, including increasing the level of ML investigations, enhancing confiscation proceedings, and improving asset recovery mechanisms.