The money laundering it implies economic and social consequencesrisks to the country’s reputation, social costs, weakening of financial institutions and fiscal losses, as warned by specialists from the financial sector in a workshop for journalistsorganized by the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA).
The manager of the Division of the PLAFT Program of Banco Popular, Línder Paulino, pointed out that, although the Dominican Republic is not on any international watch list, Haiti is is in the "Gray List of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)"along with Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
He affirmed that this proximity is reason enough for international organizations to be attentive to the Dominican territory and added that this merits a greater effort by the State and social organizations to detect and mitigate this crime in its different aspects.
Actions that subsidize drug trafficking
The chairman of the ABA Money Laundering Committee and Banesco executive, Ramón González, indicated that among the crimes that are subsidized with money laundering in its different forms include counterfeiting, drug trafficking and white slavery.
He pointed out that among these forms of crime the complicity of officials, front companies, cash monetary instruments, concealment of the final beneficiary, and “smurfing” stand out as the most common.
He specified that the latter consists of a considerable amount of money being moved through different users in small amounts, to try to go unnoticed by the financial system.
In his exhibition in the workshop “Role of multiple banks in the prevention of money laundering”, He pointed out that all these practices are used by criminals to attack the system and economic growth, causing enormous losses to people and companies around the world.
He noted that money laundering represents between 2 to 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) worldwidethat is, around 1.6 trillion dollars according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
threats
The Vice President of Compliance of Banco BHD, Michelle Cruz, assured that given that there are more and more threats that exist for people as a result of money laundering, it is imperative to constantly update in order to mitigate and reduce this crime.
He stressed that multiple banking, such as "obligated subject"has a compliance structureimplements policies and procedures, and trains staff on a recurring basis to detect possible users suspected of this crime.
He indicated that, similarly, financial sector also implements measurement indicators, effectiveness and review of controls of all its processes; provides risk-based training, establishes high suitability standards with its employees at all levels, and conducts external audits to review the effectiveness of the program.
journalistic investigation
The CEO of Media, Víctor Bautista, highlighted that the work of investigation of the journalist is vital in order to prevent money launderingpointing to its ability to question official sources, thanks to the fact that journalistic work can not only expose these illegal issues, but also dissuade public opinion regarding the seriousness of the problem.
