Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi is promising an exposé on money laundering and corruption in T&T to be released to the public soon.
Speaking to reporters after attending a Naparima Girls’ High School fund-raiser dinner at Omardeen’s Building in San Fernando on Saturday night, Al-Rawi said there was a low detection and conviction rate for money laundering and corruption in T&T, but that over the past seven months, he has been heading a team from the AG’s office and several other institutions to gather data on money laundering and corruption.
“Our second public fact-giving will be on the criminal justice system and our third will be on money laundering and corruption,” Al-Rawi disclosed. Asked whether he planned to reveal the names of politicians and other high-ranking officials of T&T who are involved in money laundering and corruption, Al-Rawi said his quest was not to expose people based on their status or political allegiance.
“Let’s just say one ought not to focus on personalities when you apply the law. Really it is that the law must be equally applied,” he pointed out.
He added, “It is my intention to apply the law with due process and fairness. I am not interested in an adhominem attack on anyone. It really is irrelevant who they are and where they come from. Where their political allegiances lie is the last of my inclinations. What I am interested in doing is as an enabler to the law. I will make sure that the systems are operationalized appropriately in the fashion that the AG is allowed.”
The AG added, “We have done a significant amount of work in civil asset forfeiture. My goal is to leave a mark of having brought the AG office into the light using our ability to put statistics into the public domain and showing what we did about it.”
He also said, “I am pleased about the progress we have made so far and I owe a debt of great gratitude to all of the players in the system who have leaned in to give support.”
While piloting the Strategic Services Agency Amendment in the Senate last week, Al-Rawi revealed that of the $3.6 billion which is monitored by the Financial Intelligence Unit, only $250,000 was forfeited. He said there were 69 seizures and only ten money-laundering cases were before the court.