The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), in partnership with the Regional Security System (RSS) and with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), has concluded a five-day intensive workshop in St. Kitts, aimed at bolstering the capacity of the judiciary in Combatting Financial Investigations, Asset Recovery, and AML/CFT/CPF procedures. The event, held from 28th July to 1st August at the St Kitts Marriott Resort, brought together over 50 judges, magistrates, crown prosecutors and financial investigators from across the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
The AML/CFT/CPF training was central to the event, underscoring the emphasis on strengthening legal systems against financial crime. Opening the workshop, ECCB’s Chief Director of Policy, Dr. D. Tracy Polius, cited deficiencies in prosecutorial effectiveness identified in the Financial Action Task Force’s Mutual Evaluation Reports—particularly regarding money laundering investigations, confiscation, and terrorist financing prosecutions.
The curriculum was carefully structured around four primary pillars: the existing AML/CFT/CPF legal framework, financial investigation and asset recovery processes, current and emerging trends in illicit financing, and international obligations under FATF standards. Participants received direct exposure to operational and legal dimensions relevant to prosecutorial and investigative work.
Kisha Sutherland, Director of the RSS Asset Recovery Unit, warned of the evolving nature of global criminal networks, stressing the ongoing threat of illicit financing flows and the need for coordinated state capacity to counter them.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Adlai Smith, highlighted the challenge posed by emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, advocating for judicial readiness to admit and evaluate digital forensic evidence and virtual asset-based cases.
“Cryptocurrency coupled with artificial intelligence has become the new frontier with money laundering; its anonymity and global reach poses fresh challenges for regulators and courts alike,” Smith noted ahead of the start of the workshop.
The DPP stressed the need for courts to be fully prepared to admit digital forensic evidence, interpret cases involving virtual assets, and impose proportionate penalties in complex, technology-driven money laundering matters adding, “This requires training, updated procedures, and a mindset to bridge the gap between the law in the books and the law in action,” Smith said, while adding that, “Money launderers gravitate towards jurisdictions where regulation is weakest; in other words, where the rule of law is present in name but conspicuously absent in action.”
By equipping the judiciary with enhanced skills to interpret, apply and enforce AML/CFT/CPF frameworks, the ECCB, RSS and CDB have reaffirmed the region’s commitment to ensuring judicial effectiveness in the fight against financial crime.
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