FIREARMS dealer Hugh Leong Poi wants all information received by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on him or his dealership from several financial institutions, last year, destroyed.
Leong Poi is also questioning the constitutionality of the move by the FIU to request financial information from various institutions for some 35 individuals and 17 businesses associated with the legal firearms business around October 2022.
He has filed a constitutional claim seeking several declarations and orders. Among those orders is the destruction of the information obtained by the FIU on him and his business – Sport Outlet Ltd (SOL).
Leong Poi, 54, is jointly charged with Opposition MP David Lee for conspiring to defraud the State of $1.4 million in motor vehicle taxes. The charges arose from the purchase of a $2.3 million Mercedes Benz AMG G 63 jeep from New Zealand.
In his lawsuit, Leong Poi is also asking for the FIU to disclose a complete copy of each request; an order quashing each request and an order that the FIU’s acting director Nigel Stoddard provide a statutory declaration detailing copies of suspicious transaction reports (STR), or suspicious activity reports (SAR) from any financial institution, or listed business on him (Leong Poi), or his business that led to the FIU’s request under section 8(3)(a) and section 11(a) of the Financial Intelligence Unit Act, for the court's inspection.
Leong Poi also wants an injunction restraining the FIU from using any of the information it received pursuant to its request.
The FIU is the agency with regulatory responsibility for anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism. It falls under the Ministry of Finance.
Leong Poi’s claim was filed on March 6 and has been assigned to Justice Jacqueline Wilson. It was listed for a hearing on April 6. The Judiciary did not respond to Newsday’s request for a link for the hearing.
According to the claim, obtained by Sunday Newsday, Leong Poi said he received a call from an acting ASP De Mata, of the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), on October 9, 2022, who said he wanted to do a “routine audit” of SOL’s inventory. Leong Poi claimed he was surprised because in the three years the company has been involved in the sale of firearms it has never been audited or investigated by any state entity.
[caption id="attachment_1009933" align="alignnone" width="893"] Poltical leader of the NTA Gary Griffith filed a similar lawsuit. -[/caption]
Leong Poi complied and arranged for the police to visit his premises in Gulf View, La Romaine for the audit. The claim said De Mata and other officers came to SOL and began searching its inventory but did not provide a search warrant or documents from the Police Commissioner to say why they were searching the premises, or conducting an audit of the company’s inventory, or on what authority they were acting.
“At no point in time was the first claimant (Leong Poi) given any explanation or any information on about the purpose of the audit which lasted for two weeks.”
Sport Out
