By Andre Bagoo Wednesday, October 7 2009

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Running for shelter: Chinese labourers working on Udecott's Academy of the Performing Arts run for shelter from the rain on Frederick Street, Port-of-...

THE PROCEEDS of Crime (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in the Senate with amendments, will for now not apply to Udecott, Minister of National Security Martin Joseph said on Monday night.

Joseph said the issue of whether or not Udecott and other state enterprises will be included under the legislation remains to be considered by the Government.

The bill aims to tighten the supervisory arrangement for the policing of money laundering and the handling of terrorist financing.

In winding up debate on the bill on Monday, Joseph responded to several queries made by Opposition and Independent senators on the bill. In particular, he responded to a query by Opposition Senator Wade Mark who had asked why Udecott was not specifically included in a schedule of state enterprises to which the legislation applies, notwithstanding the fact that the Unit Trust Corporation was listed.

“Senator Mark raised the issue of the inclusion of state enterprises like Udecott (arguing that they) should be included as well as the Unit Trust,” Joseph said.

“The listed businesses included in the schedule are those which were recommended by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force),” Joseph said. “Not all of the companies and professions included in the schedule are governed by legislation of a regulatory nature and the Government has to establish quickly a regime for the implementation of the POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act).”

“In considering the inclusion of the state enterprises, serious consideration must be given to which state enterprises are to be included and the manner in which they are to be governed by the supervisory authority. This is a decision that we may not be able to take at this time but we will give the matter our consideration,” Joseph said.

The bill, which the Government said required a three-fifths majority, was passed without Opposition support but with the support of the Independent benches. The division was 21 to six abstentions.

According to the explanatory notes for the bill, it aims to “enable Trinidad and Tobago to achieve a higher compliance rating with the Revised Forty Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and the Nine Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing.”

Additionally the bill aims to “improve the functionality of the (Proceeds of Crime) Act.”

That act provides for “the consolidation of the confiscation of the proceeds of drug trafficking and to provide for the confiscation of the proceeds of other crime and the criminalising of money laundering.”

Clause 34 of the passed bill amends the First Schedule of the Act, enumerating the businesses to which it applies. These include real estate, motor vehicle, money or value transfer services, gaming house, pool betting, jewelry, art dealing businesses as well as private members clubs, and the businesses operating the lotteries under the National Lotteries Act.

The categories for each type of business, however, are, for some, widely formulated. For instance, a “real estate” business is defined in the schedule as “any natural or legal person, partnership or firm carrying on the business of buying, selling or leasing land, any interest in land or any buildings thereon.”