The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Barry Whiteside has reminded financial institutions that they must play their role in combating money-laundering activities.
Mr Whiteside said money laundering takes place through the financial system therefore financial institutions are best placed to quickly detect these crimes as and when they are happening.
Speaking at the 3rd National Anti-Money Laundering conference organised by the Financial Intelligence Unit, Mr Whiteside said the financial institutions must think of how to improve efforts in combating money-laundering.
“As the regulator of financial institutions in Fiji, we at Reserve Bank must also step up in ensuring compliance of the FTR (Financial Transactions Reporting) Act,” Mr Whiteside said.
Speaking at the conference, which is themed “Prosecuting Money Laundering Crimes”, Mr Whiteside echoed the sentiments of the Attorney General Mr Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum that prosecuting perpetrators of money laundering crimes was imperative in order to deter future crimes.
“Let us make concerted effort to use these legal provisions to prosecute money-laundering crimes and confiscate criminal proceeds,” he said.
It was revealed during the conference that banks were used in cleaning “dirty money” or the proceeds of money laundering cases thus they must be alert and report suspicious transactions.
Mr Whiteside said financial institutions had incurred huge costs and made many changes to their systems and processes in order to comply with the requirements of the FTR Act though they did at times question the need for such comprehensive measures.
“We do have the laws to prosecute money laundering activities. We also have laws to trace the proceeds of crime and confiscate these proceeds.
“We have the ammunition but we fall short in key areas when it comes to implementation.”
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