Training for the enforcers of the Act
The Proceeds of Crime Act was enacted in 2010 and according to the Deputy Commissioner of Police a three-day training workshop that began last Tuesday, was timely although it followed
training that had taken place prior.
The DCoP who performed master of ceremonies functions for the opening told his audience, mostly of participants/trainees in the presence of the Deputy Governor and the Her worship Magistrate, members of the DPP and Attorney General’s Chambers, and private members of the local bar: “The purpose of this workshop is to enable prosecutors and financial investigators among other practitioners, to practice the skills techniques and legislative powers employed during the course of a confiscation case.”
He said one of the objectives of the Proceeds of Crime Act, “is to address ways of taking the profits out of crime – No longer should criminals be allowed to benefit from their illegal activities.”
“It is with this in mind that I view this workshop as timely,” he said, “as we prepare ourselves to ensure that we are equipped to deal with these cases.”
The Ag. CoP welcomed and introduced the course facilitatory Miss Hilary Ryan, Criminal Justice Adviser in the UK. She would have been assisted by the DPP during the training which would cover investigation and evidence gathering.
In brief remarks from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who later in the day joined the Deputy Commissioner, who was also acting Commissioner at the time, at a press briefing on the workshop, said, “Our thinking as investigators and prosecutors should always be along the lines of whether there has been any benefit from particular criminal 
offences. If this becomes a part of our approach we will be well on our way to success.”
“Tracking and confiscating the proceeds of crime has become of paramount importance in the fight against crime,” he said.
“It has become increasingly difficult to detect such offences as drug trafficking, corruption, human trafficking and those offences from which criminals derive most of the ill-gotten gains. That is why the focus has now shifted to focusing on depriving criminals of the proceeds of crime. It is concluded that if criminals are deprived of their l ill-gotten gains it will make it more make it less attractive to offend,’ he concluded.
The acting CoP then declared the course open.
Press Briefing
The DPP and the Deputy Commissioner met later with the press where they were questioned more deeply on the Act, and the training courses which was due to end on Thursday.
Both DPP and the Ag. Commissioner spoke to the need of the public being sufficiently aware of the Proceeds of Crime legislation. They said that while money laundering is not new to Montserrat, or the region for that matter, legislation itself is new. It is necessary to educate the public to increase the awareness level of the pitfalls that can come from non-compliance.
Sullivan spoke directly to money laundering, which he says, “…in its simplest form, is the cleaning up of dirty money. The proceeds of crime legislation really seeks to take the benefits out of crime so it is no longer attractive for criminals to commit crimes, bearing in mind that if they are found to be in procession of procedural crime we will ensure that those proceeds are withdrawn.”
“Now the public needs to be aware because when one speaks of money laundering terrorist financing terrorist financing aspects certainly is quite clear,” he said. “But when you speak of the benefits of criminal conduct it does not necessarily mean it has to be in major drug trafficking…”
“So it’s almost as simple -any offence that profits or benefits are derived, then there can be a procedure of crime investigation and further confiscation and forfeiture.,” describing the difference between the two (confiscation and forfeiture) being, “confiscation, if it’s based on criminal conviction, and in terms of forfeiture in the legislation – in that you do not have to have a conviction; all we have to prove before the court is that there is recoverable cash or recoverable benefits meaning that you benefited from your criminal conduct…”
