The Financial Action Task Force updates its standards and two politically exposed persons are criminally charged in the Turks and Caicos Islands¹:

  1. The Financial Action Task Force has revised its 40 Recommendations for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing.  A February 16th press release states these revisions include “[m]ore effective international cooperation including exchange of information between relevant authorities, conduct of joint investigations, and tracing, freezing and confiscation of illegal assets.”  Some of the changes address tax crimes, public corruption and laundering by politically exposed persons.  Such laundering easily happens in cases where a corrupt politically exposed person exercises direct power over a bank, as I suggest at the Moneylaundering.com article International Groups Say Corrupt PEPs Can Often Loot With Impunity.²
  2. The Special Investigation and Prosecution Team researching alleged public corruption by ex-Turks & Caicos Premier Michael Misick, recently filed criminal charges against two politically exposed persons.  The two are former Turks & Caicos Minister
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 McAllister 
Hanchell and Turks and Caicos Progressive National Party leader Clayton Greene, who is an attorney.  The Turks & Caicos Sun reported that Mr. Hanchell is accused of conspiring to collect bribes.  Mr. Hanchell was mentioned at pp. 253-255 of a Commission of Inquiry Report,³ which earlier said Mr. Hanchell should be criminally investigated for possible corruption.  Mr. Greene is accused of washing corruption proceeds through his attorney trust account.  Attorney trust accounts are sometimes used in money laundering circuits, as highlighted at the February 6th Asset Search News Roundup.

 

¹The Turks and Caicos Islands, SN/1A/5038 contains parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v1.0.

²International Groups Say Corrupt PEPs Can Often Loot With Impunity, Copyright 2011 Alert Global Media, reprinted with permission.

³Commission of Inquiry Report, is reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO.

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams