Today the FIU and the Business and Income Tax Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The purpose of the memorandum is to allow the automatic exchange of information between the two departments in order to fight against and prevent money laundering, the financing of terrorism and tax evasion. The memorandum also allows the possibility for joint operations between the FIU and the Income Tax department. Here’s the new director of the FIU, Kent Clare, on how this memorandum will help to stop financial crime…
Kent Clare - Director, FIU
"What we hope to achieve here is more than just the FIU under its anti-money laundering laws and the FIU act and so - requesting information from our counterparts. What we are seeking to achieve here is a more advanced more organised collaboration specifically on things like the development of legislation. Before we sign one of the things I need to bring to the public's attention is the fact that we would hope to develop legislation to criminalise tax evasion in Belize."
"The FIU is conducting a very ambitious but very necessary programme to develop what is called a national risk assessment for Belize and basically what it is it's a anti money laundering and terrorist financing initiative but it takes into account on wide variety of stakeholders from the AG's ministry to the immigration department, customs; certainly tax, the office of the supervisor of insurance, the IFSC who supervise the offshore sector, the central bank. And basically you are looking at risk assessment and mitigation in every way that Belize could be challenged, whether it's our borders, whether it is risk from criminal activities, to street crime, from cybercrime and your fundamental money laundering terrorist financing - protection of our financial systems and so on. We are required to ensure that this initiative is completed certainly within the time frame of not less more than 2 years and income tax department is a very vital part of this collaboration."
This is the third Memorandum of Understanding the FIU has signed with a government department, but the first under their new Director, Kent Clare.
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