EU OFFICIAL TO BAHAMIAN QUERY ABOUT THE BLACKLIST ENTRY: YOU HAVE ZERO MONEY LAUNDERING CONVICTIONS

When government officials from the Bahamas questioned why their country was placed upon the EU Blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions, the answer, from a member of the EU Parliament, was both blunt and true: The Bahamas has zero money laundering convictions. It has been listed as a high-risk jurisdiction for financial crime, due in no small part to the fact that, in a country that is a transit center for narcotics, where dodgy foreign nationals seek to evade their taxman, where human trafficking exists, and where corrupt PEPs secrete their ill-gotten gains, there are no money laundering convictions.

If that was not an indicator that enforcement of anti-money laundering laws and countering terrorist financing is sorely lacking, Bahamians do not understand the global problem. Perhaps they had best starring enforcing the proceeds of Crime Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act, before complaining to the EU that the inclusion of the Bahamas on the EU Blacklist was contrary to the evidence.