Money Laundering News Reports on the Rise…a Good or Bad Thing?

A Firstline Securities Limited Blog by: Ahamad Hosein

Of late, local and even international news agencies have been featuring stories of T&T citizens who have been involved (or allegedly involved) in money laundering, fraud and illicit drug crimes.

Some of these headline stories are as follows:

1. TTPS: Over $49M in money laundering seized: Loop News Trinidad and Tobago. 16 August 2018.
2. Tobago not Immune to Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing: Trinidad News. 22 May 2018.
3. 27 charged for money laundering: Trinidad News. 23 February 2018.
4. Former manager to appear in court for over 80 fraud-related charges: Loop News Trinidad and Tobago. 21 August 2018.
5. Two magistrates begin case of 10 accused of fraud at Corporation: Loop News Trinidad and Tobago. 31 July 2018.

These stories however are just the tip of the iceberg.  I am certain that most people of our nation now wake up and refuse to read the newspapers or listen to/watch the news due to the continued surge of corruption and crime (violent, financial etc.).

I fully understand their sentiment.  Our news more than often fills us with sensations of dread, sourness or downright “doom and gloom.”

However – is the increase in the reporting of crimes, such as those in the realm of money laundering, necessarily a bad thing?

Here are my 5 reasons why there may be a positive (yes I actually said ‘positive’) to these reports:

1. For money laundering (and other such crimes) to be reported, someone somewhere has to love this country and be willing to risk their lives to report: to blow the whistle. Personally I think of them as unsung heroes and I would like to tell them “well done” and “thank you”!
2. The authorities are taking people to court: this shows that even some law enforcement personnel may also feel the same as the aforementioned reporters and are doing their best to curb crime of this nature.
3. As opposed to a few years ago, there has been an increase in the number of such cases which are being exposed: this signals that more people are not only aware of the law when it comes to money laundering schemes, but a vested interest in being taken by some to eradicate it from our country.
4. The more such crimes are being reported – the more people are aware of the ins and outs of money laundering and the ramifications to be faced if caught. Or in a more familiar verse: “you do the crime, you will do the time”
5. Some who ignorantly fall prey to terrorist recruiters have shared first-hand experiences of the lies and tricks they (the recruiters) tend to spread in an effort to hook their next victims. Through the publication of these testimonies, via the various news channels, more and more of the population would become informed, and therefore safeguard themselves and their families from potential exploitation.

All in all, the promulgation of such news is not all bad.  More than ever we need to hold on to the fact – and I stress the word ‘fact’ – that there are still truly good, decent, patriotic persons dwelling in sweet T&T.

Let’s turn the negative news to positive by becoming more informed, and informing others around us as well.

If together we aspire to uproot and destroy the evils of crime in all its incarnations, then together we will achieve the harmonious T&T that we all desire to dwell in!