"Tell Europe that enough is enough"

As of Wednesday, May 6, 2020

ALFRED M SEARS, QC

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas was yesterday urged to tell Europe "enough is enough", with a former attorney general arguing it is wielding "blacklisting" as a tool to drive this nation out of financial services.

Alfred Sears QC, responding after it was revealed that the European Commission plans to include The Bahamas on a 12-strong blacklist of nations with weaknesses in their anti-financial crime defences, said it was resorting to a "protectionist" agenda at the very moment this nation is "fighting for its life" against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telling Tribune Business that the commission, which acts as the 27-nation European Union's (EU) civil service, is "not coming with clean hands", Mr Sears said its continued blacklisting threats were equivalent to a hurricane or pandemic in terms of their impact on the Bahamian financial services industry.

"The problem is that the EU is not the police of the world," he told this newspaper. "If we need any evidence that the EU and its bodies will use every strategy available to them, including COVID-19, to advance their protectionist agenda, here it is now."

Mr Sears voiced shock that the European Commission would be "so opportunistic" to again threaten this country's second largest industry "at a time when we are faced with a probable economic fall-out equivalent to the Great Depression".

Noting that "The Bahamas is fighting for its life" against COVID-19, and the joint health and economic impact, the former attorney general said the European Commission's latest action meant this nation needed to "find the courage" to draw a line in the sand beyond which it cannot go.

"There needs to be the resolve, once and for all, to put anti-money laundering under an international convention," he told Tribune Business. "I'm calling on the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to tell the EU: Enough is enough.

"The most egregious money laundering has not been in The Bahamas. The most egregious money laundering uncovered has been in Europe and the United States. This has become like a hurricane, a pandemic. It's an existential threat, this protectionism by the EU.

"They're not coming with clean hands. They're cloaking protectionism under the guise of anti-money laundering. We see time and time again the selective enforcement of standards whereas we over-regulate in The Bahamas," Mr Sears continued.

"It's easier for a Bahamian to open a bank account in New York or Miami than it is in Nassau. It has undermined our competitive advantage and the ease of doing business. I believe that is part of the intent."

Mr Sears hit out after the Reuters news agency yesterday reported that The Bahamas was among 12 countries set to be named on a European Commission blacklist to be formally unveiled on Thursday (tomorrow).

Others set for inclusion, according to Reuters which was given an advance look at the relevant documents, include Panama, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe.

All were said to "pose significant threats to the financial system of the [EU}", and the 27-nation bloc's financial institutions are being called upon to apply greater scrutiny and due diligence to transactions involving The Bahamas, its businesses and residents, as well as those in the other nations.

Reuters frequently appears to be given advance notice of such EU moves - possibly as part of a strategy to unnerve the nations being targeted. The blacklisting, if it comes to fruition, will threaten to increase the time and costs involved in conducting business between The Bahamas and Europe, again undermining the country's competitiveness in those markets. Reputational risk is also involved.

While the impact on The Bahamas' vital correspondent banking relationships may not be as pronounced, given that most of this nation's international transactions clear through the US, a non-EU-member, the Commission's action will also cut across the recent changes The Bahamas made to its Investment Funds Act to secure that sector's access to European markets.

Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago

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tetelestai 3 years, 11 months ago

Mudda, some of what you say is true, some is inaccurate., sone is misdirection. Quickly, Sears has always supported an anti 'alphabet soup' stance. Si your assertion here us simply not true. Go back to when the terribly ill informed Hubert Ingraham changed most of our financial services laws. John Delaney was the 'Squealer' to Ingraham's 'Napolean'. Sears opposed all of this from then, and, if you may recall, was one of Sesrs campaign promises in 2002 election. So your assertion is not true. Sears had been consistent. Which leads me to the alphabet soup agencies have been beating us up from before Sebas was a two- bit hustler and while Flowers was still a pilot. The numbers boys are just an excuse by international agencies to come after us. Incidentally, look up how many numbers houses are in Mauritius- another blacklisted country. So dont overexaggerste the numbers boys effect. The money they bring in is negligible in international circles. Doesnt even register on the global radar. Read the corresponding banking report produced by the IMF, circa 2018, to see just hiw negligible numbers houses are. Finalky, yes, there are former regulators on Sebas' Board, but existing regularors have not been compromised. If tou have evidence of the same, then produce it. Btw, those old pasture former regulators were so incompetent that the only jobs most could get was to sit on Sebas' board, so that should tell you something about how serious to take them. This issue is simply white countries trying to eliminate black and brown countries, whom they (white) feel that they are superior too. Modern day colonization, if you will. Dont fall for the silly numbers boys rhetoric.

Hoda 3 years, 11 months ago

I believe they question our genuineness and ability to enforce an anti money laundering regime. If we pause, we have been amending our financial transaction and Money laundering regime Since 2000, how many people have been fined, punished or actually prosecuted for money laundering? I don’t know or recall any, though I may be wrong. How is that possible? The accusations continue, against professionals, Pananama Papers, etc, the plp, etc, though I am not trying to make it politic.

tetelestai 3 years, 11 months ago

Hoda, I understand your point, which is fair - and that is what the alphabet soup agencies have said to us, i.e. we haven't prosecuted much AML/CFT cases. But it is kind of a double edged sword isn't it. Our relatively new laws focus on prevention of AML, via filings with the FIU/Securities Commission, et. al. So we want to stop AML/CFT issues before they start, not prosecute it after the event transpired. So if we can show empirically, and I believe we can, that we have prevented issues, we should receive more credit than if we prosecute after the illegality occurs. But of course, the alphabet soup people do not give us credit for that - which is where the unfairness and fallacy of their accusations are apparent. Put simply, they are downgrading us for stopping the murder, rather than us allowing the murder and then putting the guilty party in jail. That is preposterous. Also, I know you said you didn't want to inject politics, but I have to deal with the point you make linking PLP to corruption. Most of the companies that appeared in the Panama Papers (Bahamas related) were formed between 1998-2003 - the FNM's time in office. Plus, let us not forget that, to date, the only people in The Bahamas that have been prosecuted for corruption - something the alphabet agencies are so fond of - have been FNM's. So, let us not point fingers solely at the PLP.

Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

Clamshell 3 years, 11 months ago

Truth told, American criminals and tax shysters learned years ago that there are far better places in the Caribbean to launder money. Nobody in Europe ever heard of the Cayman Islands?

CelebrityChef 3 years, 11 months ago

The Cayman islands still belong to the British, maybe that why they want to protect it

lovingbahamas 3 years, 11 months ago

I wouldn't exactly call it "opportunistic: when the Bahamas is on the money laundering list most years. Why not just fix it? Can't use the Covid excuse for everything.

themessenger 3 years, 11 months ago

What more do we need to fix? We continue to attempt to appease the EU with what result, more blacklisting? Winston Churchill once said " An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last!"

DDK 3 years, 11 months ago

Maybe the man is an EU "consultant"🤣

concerned799 3 years, 11 months ago

It was a mistake to have started trying to meet all of these demands of alphabet groups over the years in the first. place. No matter what you did it just got you more demands.

The whole matter should have placed before the UN, where it belongs, there is a UN and it has a procedure for dealing with multilateral issues. "The UN is the forum for such matters" why is that a hard position to communicate? Then everything would apply to everyone, but oh, yeah, some countries not on the blacklist will never agree to those demands and that would mean having to deal with it openly and fairly. I guess that was unacceptable so go after the small countries one by one. Not such an attractive option from where the Bahamas sits.

tetelestai 3 years, 11 months ago

THIS!!!

BahamaPundit 3 years, 11 months ago

This was the right course of action for sure. If you're sitting on a pile of gold, you don't just give up that gold at the first sign of discent; otherwise, you'll be a poor man in no time. Haters gonna hate. The way to deal with haters and disputes is through international bodies and courts - - that's what they're there for. The Bahamas took the "easy" way out and relied on people with more experience eating conch than with international disputes.

concerned799 3 years, 11 months ago

Oh, and Apple, Facebook and Amazon and Google are the source of the vast amount of the EU's tax leakage, so we can suggest the EU go knock on there doors not the poor Bahamas which is suffering from a massive tourism drop !

Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago

Bingo!

BahamaPundit 3 years, 11 months ago

It would be very interesting to see what would have happened if The Bahamas had never changed its laws from the very first OECD blacklisting. It is seeming likely that it would be in a better position for financial services than it is now.

tetelestai 3 years, 11 months ago

AND VERY MUCH THIS!!! Ingraham was naive, out of his depth and very much ill advised by Bumbling Bill Allen and the greedy Higgs and Johnson law firm.

TalRussell 3 years, 11 months ago

Comrade QC Alfred, I don't understand why the Cayman Islands whose Dollar currency is the only other currently trading higher than the US dollar is not amongst 12 countries set to be named on a European Commission blacklist to be formally unveiled tomorrow?
Not like the Europeans have some special affection for the departing Brits. Nod once for yeah, Twice for no?

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