LOUIS W WILLIAMS
GIVEN OUR horrific murder rate and the prevalence of other violent crimes, quite understandably the focus of our attention has been somewhat skewed toward those who are directly involved in the execution of such crimes (the foot soldiers). Law-abiding citizens are scared for their lives and want those perpetrators to be apprehended and punished in a timely manner.
What appears to have escaped the attention of many law-abiding citizens is the relationship between many violent crimes and the white-collar variety. The foot soldiers and their gang leaders do not have the wherewithal to corrupt law-enforcement officials and, indeed, other key state officials, and/or to import illegal drugs and illegal firearms.
That falls exclusively within the domain of some very crafty and elusive individuals (the "Mr Bigs") in our country who display a flawless public facade of respectability, but in reality are the ones involved behind the scenes corruptly financing illegal activities and obtaining huge financial rewards from such activities.
These individuals utilise our financial institutions in their nefarious enterprise. Accordingly, if we are to effectively combat both serious blue-collar and white-collar crime, a powerful and proactive Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is essential.
It would be absurd for a critical law-enforcement institution such as the FIU to be authorised to only investigate matters regarding suspicious financial activities/transactions referred to it by financial institutions.
The officials in such institutions are not trained in law-enforcement and, therefore, do not possess the appropriate forensic skills. They are at a severe disadvantage when dealing with nefarious characters who find clever ways to hide their ill-gotten gains.
Moreover, such nefarious characters have been known, globally, to successfully corrupt and/or intimidate bank officials to get their way.
As a consequence, the FIU has to be proactive and ought to be empowered to investigate suspicious financial activities/transactions based on information provided to it from any source. It ought to establish a confidential contact port similar to what obtains at Crime Stoppers where people can anonymously report such financial crimes.
Such confidential sources in crime-fighting are oftentimes "on the inside" and therefore quite familiar with the modus operandi of those nefarious people. Those confidential sources can provide information on a host of things including the methods used to evade detection of suspicious financial activities/transactions by financial institutions.
It is therefore imperative that our parliamentarians ensure that if the current legislation is deficient in that it does not permit the FIU to commence an investigation in the absence of a report initiated by a financial institution, then the legislation ought to be suitably amended to grant the FIU such authority.
There are safeguards in the current legislation to address the leaking of the confidential information of the person be
