Financial Crime World

Title: Dominica’s Money Laundering Vulnerabilities Exposed in CFATF Report

Subtitle: A Look into the Commonwealth of Dominica’s AML/CFT Measures and Recommendations

The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) recently published a Mutual Evaluation Report on the Commonwealth of Dominica’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) measures. This report reveals several risks and deficiencies in Dominica’s framework for combating financial crimes.

CFATF Report Cover for Dominica

Key Findings

  • The CFATF, an inter-governmental body, evaluated Dominica based on the 40 FATF Recommendations during an on-site assessment between August 15th and 26th, 2022.
  • Dominica identified drug trafficking, firearm trafficking, fraud/ATM scams, burglary, and theft as the primary ML risks. However, a more detailed analysis is required for areas such as TF, cross-border financial flows, legal persons, and non-profit organizations (NPOs).
  • Progress has been made in improving coordination and cooperation among key competent authorities (CAs), leading to the development of a National Strategy, National Policy, and National Implementation Action Plan (NIAP).
  • CAs have access to various financial intelligence sources for investigations and developing evidence, but there is room for improvement in the strategic analysis and disseminations from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
  • Despite having criminalized ML, investigations and prosecutions do not fully reflect Dominica’s risk profile. Although CAs have several avenues for initiating ML cases, they primarily investigate together with predicate offenses and lack adequate resources for effective prosecution.
  • The Central Authority and Financial Supervisory Unit (FSU) have human and financial resource deficiencies, which affect their ability to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities.

Recommendations

The report suggests several steps for Dominica to strengthen its AML/CFT regime, including:

  • Assessing financial sector risks.
  • Implementing regulations on NPOs and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
  • Addressing TF risks.
  • Improving coordination and cooperation among various agencies.

Resources

The CFATF report is available to the public at www.cfatf.org/documents/4th-round-meval-reports.

For more information on the CFATF and its work, please visit www.cfatf.org.

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice.