Financial Crime World

Terrorism (Amendment) Act #2 of 2010: Section 5(E)

Financial Institutions on High Alert for Terrorist Financing Sources

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

As the world continues to grapple with the threat of terrorism, financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago have been put on high alert to detect and prevent terrorist financing. According to Section 5(E) of the Terrorism (Amendment) Act #2 of 2010, terrorist financing can come from two primary sources.

Primary Sources of Terrorist Financing

  • State-sponsored funding: Financial support provided by states or organizations with large enough infrastructures to collect and make funds available to terrorist organizations. This type of funding has declined in recent years, replaced by other types of funding.
  • Criminal activities: “Revenue generating” criminal activities such as kidnapping, extortion, smuggling, fraud, theft, robbery, and narcotics trafficking.

Key Differences between Terrorist Groups and Traditional Criminal Organizations

  • Terrorist groups can also receive funding from legitimate sources, making it a key difference between terrorist groups and traditional criminal organizations.
  • Unlike money laundering, funding for terrorist groups can come from a variety of sources, including charitable or relief organizations.

Combating the Threat

To combat this threat, financial institutions licensed under the Financial Institutions Act 2008 and other relevant regulations are required to implement anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures. These measures include:

  • Documenting, establishing, and maintaining a compliance program
  • Appointing a Compliance Officer
  • Reporting suspicious transactions
  • Making reports to the Finance Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago

Regulatory Measures

The Central Bank has been designated as the Supervisory Authority for financial institutions under the Financial Intelligence Unit Trust Act 2006. This allows it to take regulatory measures to ensure compliance with AML/CFT requirements.

Anti-Terrorism Act

The Anti-Terrorism Act criminalizes terrorism, provides for the detection, prosecution, conviction, and punishment of terrorist activities, and introduces a quarterly reporting regime as regards possession or control of terrorist property. A suspicious transaction reporting mechanism has also been introduced where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction is related to the commission of a terrorist act.

Public Awareness

Financial institutions have been advised to remain vigilant in detecting and preventing terrorist financing, and to report any suspicious transactions to the relevant authorities. The public has also been urged to remain aware of potential threats and to report any information that may be useful in combating terrorism.