Saint Lucia set to improve its National Risk Assessment Profile

November 23rd 2022

by Glen Simon, NCPC

THE AG’S CHAMBERS RECENTLY HELD A WORKSHOP TO STRENGTHEN DETECTION OF CORRUPTION, TAX EVASION, FRAUD, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, AND WEAPONS.

The National Risk Assessment for Saint Lucia which was conducted in 2018 went through a validation exercise on November 15th and 16th 2022. The National Risk Assessment is a snapshot of Saint Lucia’s risk profile in various sectors. Juliana Alfred is the Permanent Secretary in the Attorney General’s Chambers.

“A lot has happened including the publication of Saint Lucia’s mutual evaluation report in 2021 and in that report a few deficiencies were highlighted, things that Saint Lucia has to address. One of the new elements is updating our National Risk Assessment, which is why you are here. But, there are also critical things that we are to address as a country to ensure that we are removed off enhanced follow-up, which is where we are at now.”

Over the past year, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Anti-Money Laundering Committee have undertaken legislative changes and implemented policies geared at addressing identified gaps sighted in Saint Lucia’s Mutual Evaluation Report.

“So come the first quarter of 2023 Saint Lucia is supposed to be applying for a re-rating further to the publication of our report because we want to improve the standing of Saint Lucia and we want to be removed from enhanced follow-up.”

Various stakeholders from the public and private sectors were engaged for a two-day workshop on de-risking, reputational risk, and the economic impact if Saint Lucia fails to address its deficiencies. Attorney General, Leslie Mondesir indicated that the effectiveness of a National Risk Assessment is dependent on a real understanding of the risks facing the country and developing risk-based action plans to mitigate corruption, tax evasion, fraud, human trafficking, and countering the financing of weapons of mass destruction.

“A National Risk Assessment enables us:

To better understand the dimensions and sources of the proceeds of financial crime and better identify methods and trends of money laundering and terrorist proliferation financing
To better understand the weakness of the anti-money laundering system and combating the financing of terrorism and factor that may render us vulnerable
To identify vulnerabilities of Saint Lucia’s financial sector and non-financial sector along with weaknesses related to the operations of Saint Lucia’s Financial Intelligence Unit, law enforcement authorities, and the financial sector supervisors.
To allow government to target resources to areas of higher risk or greater vulnerabilities.”

The Attorney General added that pursuant to the publication of Saint Lucia’s Mutual Evaluation Report in January 2021 Saint Lucia was placed under the enhanced follow-up process having eight or more non-compliant or partially compliant ratings for technical compliance and a low or moderate level of effectiveness for seven or more of the eleven effectiveness outcomes.

“The National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC) made a presentation to Cabinet, to brief the Cabinet as to what the fourth round CFATF Mutual Evaluation Process is all about and to let Cabinet know the way forward. How we deal with these particular issues.”

The dynamic and constantly changing international landscape brings with it new risks, threats, and new recommendations to reduce the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

“So we constantly have to be evolving and stay on top of the trends in terms of what the new threats are. So, for example, terrorism financing, that was not there before and now it’s something we need to focus on. Proliferation financing is another issue that we need to focus on.”

Alfred added that the penalty for non-compliance can cripple a county’s economy thus the importance of strengthening the internal systems to combat potential threats. The first follow-up report was presented in December 2021 with the second follow-up report due in December 2022.

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