|
|
Sanctions:
None applicable
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2012:
The Dominican Republic (DR) is not a major regional financial
center, despite having one of the largest economies in the
Caribbean. The DR continues to be a major transit point for the
transshipment of illicit narcotics destined for the United States and
Europe. The six international airports, 16 seaports and a large
porous frontier with Haiti present Dominican authorities with
serious challenges.
Corruption within the government and the private sector, the
presence of international illicit trafficking cartels, a large informal
economy, and a fragile formal economy make the DR vulnerable
to money laundering and terrorist financing threats. The large
informal economy is a significant market for illicit or smuggled
goods. The under-invoicing of imports and exports by DR
businesses is a relatively common practice for those seeking to
avoid taxes and customs fees. U.S. law enforcement believes
there is some evidence that arms smuggling across Dominican
borders has reached systemic levels as there are identifiable
networks smuggling weapons into the DR from the U.S. The
increase in drug related violence throughout the DR is partially
attributable to arms trafficking as evidenced by the seizures of
illicit weapons at ports of entry over the past year. The major
sources of laundered proceeds stem from illicit trafficking
activities, tax evasion and fraudulent financial activities,
particularly transactions with forged credit cards.
There are no reported hawala or other money or value transfer
services operating in the DR. A significant number of remittances
are transferred through banks. Casinos are legal in DR and
unsupervised gaming activity represents a significant money
laundering risk. While the country has a law creating an
international financial zone, implementing regulations will not be
issued until the law is reformed to avoid perceptions that the zone
will be left out of the DR’s AML regulatory regime.
Do Financial Institutions engage in currency transactions related
to international narcotics trafficking that include significant
amounts of US currency; currency derived from illegal sales in the
U.S.; or that otherwise significantly affect the U.S.: Yes
Criminalization of Money Laundering:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
Know-your-customer (KYC) rules:
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
KYC covered entities: Banks, currency exchange houses,
securities brokers, cashers of checks or other types of negotiable
instruments, issuers/sellers/cashers of travelers checks or money
orders, credit and debit card companies, remittance companies,
offshore financial service providers, casinos, real estate agents,
automobile dealerships, insurance companies, and dealers in
firearms and precious metals
Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) Requirements:
Number of STRs received and time frame: Not available
Number of CTRs received and time frame: Not available
STR covered entities: Banks, agricultural credit institutions,
money exchangers, notaries, gaming centers, securities dealers,
art or antiquity dealers, jewelers and precious metals vendors,
attorneys, financial management firms and travel agencies
Money Laundering Criminal Prosecutions/Convictions:
Prosecutions: 12 in 2011
Convictions: Seven in 2011
Records exchange mechanism:
With U.S.: MLAT: YES Other mechanism: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
The Dominican Republic is a member of the Caribbean Financial
Action Task Force (CFATF), a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-
style regional body. Its most recent mutual evaluation can be
found here: http://www.cfatf-gafic.
org/downloadables/mer/Dominica_3rd_Round_MER_(Final)
_English.pdf
Enforcement and implementation issues and comments:
The DR has made progress on the functioning of its financial
intelligence unit (FIU), but problems remain. Progress includes
greater clarity on the areas covered by disclosure and reporting
requirements; however, there remains a lack of publicly available
information about the numbers of reports submitted by the various
reporting sectors.
The DR also strengthened its laws on PEPs and correspondent
relationships but international experts have outlined key
weaknesses to address. In addition, the DR urgently needs to
pass regulations to provide safe harbor protection for STR filers
and criminalize tipping off. The government also should work to
better regulate casinos and non-bank businesses and
professions, in particular real estate companies, and strengthen
regulations for financial cooperatives and insurance companies.
The DR’s asset forfeiture regime is improving but has weaknesses
because it does not cover confiscation of instrumentalities
intended for use in the commission of a money laundering
offense; property of corresponding value; and income, profits, or
other benefits from the proceeds of crime. The DR should
implement legislation to bring its asset forfeiture regime up to
international standards.
In July 2011, Dominican authorities announced they had
dismantled the core of a narcotics trafficking and money
laundering organization based in the DR. The alleged profits from
the narcotrafficking operation were laundered using banks and
other financial instruments throughout the Western Hemisphere.
The group allegedly had branches in Canada, Colombia,
Venezuela, Jamaica and elsewhere. The investigation was
coordinated by agents from the DR, Central America, South
America, North America, and Interpol.
The Egmont Group expelled the FIU in 2006 due to a lack of
compliance with the definition of an FIU. To date, the FIU has not
been reinstated into that worldwide organization. This seriously
hinders U.S. law enforcement in the exchange of information with
its Dominican counterparts through the two countries’ FIUs. The
Egmont Group has specified the formal steps the DR would need
to take to re-apply for Egmont membership, thereby allowing the
FIU to efficiently and securely share sensitive financial information
with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S.
FIU, as well as with the rest of the Egmont membership. However,
there are still impediments in the Dominican law keeping the FIU
from being considered for membership, such as Law 480/08 which
enables the creation of another FIU-like organization to regulate
international financial zones. The DR should modify the law to
eliminate the possibility of a second FIU, and re-apply for
membership in the Egmont Group.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
The Dominican Republic is an important transit country for illicit
drugs from South America which are destined for North America
and Europe. The U.S. government estimates that the bulk of the
four per-cent of the cocaine through Hispaniola transships
through the Dominican Republic. The United States and
Dominican Republic analysts assess that maritime routes are now
the primary method of smuggling drugs into and out of the country
and recent successful maritime interdiction operations are
validating this assessment. Drug Trafficking Organizations
(DTOs) are using Go-Fast boats and commercial containers to
smuggle drugs into and out of the Dominican Republic. Plus, the
country is experiencing an increase in narcotics related violence,
partially attributable to DTOs’ practice of paying local partners in
narcotics rather than in cash.
In order to combat the influence of DTOs, the Dominican Republic
continued its cooperation with the U.S. government in efforts to
interdict illicit drugs, and extradite criminals charged with narcotics-
related crimes. The Dominicans conducted their own public
outreach efforts to warn youth about the dangers of narcotics.
The United States is actively working with Dominican counterparts
to plan and conduct international operations to seize illicit drugs,
and conduct investigations to dismantle DTOs; however,
corruption continues to interfere with these efforts.
The Dominican Republic is a party to the 1988 UN Drug
Convention.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 2 Watch List)
The Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking
and forced labor. In part due to significant, poverty-driven
migration into and from the country, there is widespread confusion
among the public, the media, government officials, and even
some NGOs about the difference between human trafficking and
human smuggling, complicating efforts to address human
trafficking in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, reports from
various sources in the Dominican Republic and Caribbean
indicate that Dominican women and children are subjected to sex
trafficking throughout the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean,
Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the United States.
Additionally, child sex tourism is a problem, particularly in coastal
resort areas of the Dominican Republic, with child sex tourists
arriving year-round from various developed countries. Officials
and NGOs have documented many cases of children being forced
into domestic service, street vending, begging, agricultural work,
and construction. Reportedly, forced labor of adults exists in
construction, some agricultural production, and the domestic
service sectors. Street children and undocumented or stateless
people of Haitian descent are groups particularly vulnerable to
trafficking, though authorities identified Dominican victims in the
Dominican Republic as well.
The Government of the Dominican Republic does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite some
progress, most notably in the area of identifying and protecting a
greater number of trafficking victims, the government did not
demonstrate overall increasing efforts over the previous reporting
period in prosecuting trafficking offenders, including officials
complicit in forced prostitution and forced labor; therefore, the
Dominican Republic is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2009
The Dominican Republic continued to lack the ability to fully
control its air, land, and sea borders but is making progress to do
so. The Dominican Republic cooperated with U.S. law
enforcement agencies under the Sovereign Skies agreement and
negotiated a MOU for US$ 10 million to upgrade helicopters and
train pilots for counternarcotics operations. In addition, in
December 2009, the Dominicans received the first two Brazilian
Super Tucano aircraft out of an order of eight that will be used to
control its airspace. In another positive step, the Dominican
Republic continued to work with the United States to create a
nation-wide biometric database base that incorporates and
provides timely data from Dominican military, law enforcement,
and judicial databases. Biometric equipment was maintained at
the headquarters of the Dominican National Police and 16 other
key locations, with another 20 sets to be installed. Positive steps
were taken last year by the Dominican Republic to strengthen its
legal regime and capabilities to combat terrorism.
The National Congress passed the General Counterterrorism Act,
thereby creating the legislative framework that defines the
behaviors that constitute acts of terrorism and other related acts.
Since the Dominican Republic is a strategic point for international
trade and tourism, measures were implemented by the
government in coordination with the United States to reinforce
customs controls to prevent terrorist organizations from acquiring
weapons, weapons delivery systems, and the technologies to
manufacture them from persons and institutions located in the
country.
The Dominican Republic, in coordination with the United States
and other international agencies, organized and/or participated in
efforts to strengthen training and international cooperation to
combat terrorism. The Dominican Republic hosted a ministerial
conference in February that engaged various entities of the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in dealing with issues related
to illicit drugs, organized crime, and terrorism. This conference
concluded with the adoption of the Political Declaration on
Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Other
Serious Crimes in the Caribbean. The Office of the Attorney
General for the Dominican Republic sponsored Specialized
Training in the Prevention and Fight against Terrorism and
Terrorist Financing. In November, law enforcement and high-level
officials from the Dominican Republic took part in an UNODC
Terrorism workshop in the Bahamas and examined trends and
discussed the legal framework and mechanisms of international
cooperation in the fight against terrorism. In March, the Dominican
Republic’s counterterrorism unit known as Secretaria de Las
Fuerzas Armadas Commando Especial Contra Terrorismo was
trained as part of U.S. Southern Command, Special Operations
Command-South’s Exercise Fused Response. Fused Response
provided real world scenarios that tested the commandos’ ability
to perform counterterrorism type missions. In September, the
Dominican Republic participated in a U.S.-sponsored military
training exercise, PANAMAX. This particular exercise was
designed by U.S. Southern Command to address teamwork and to
strengthen the Country’s ability to operate jointly against
terrorism. As a means to improve border security, members of the
specialized Border Security Force were trained by members of the
U.S. Border Patrol.
While many land border, ports, and airline hubs remained
permeable, the United States assisted the Dominican Republic on
various initiatives to improve security, such as the Container
Security Initiative. Port Caucedo was identified as a Megaport and
its certification was part of the Customs Trade Partnership Against
Terrorism Initiative.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
None applicable
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2012:
The Dominican Republic (DR) is not a major regional financial
center, despite having one of the largest economies in the
Caribbean. The DR continues to be a major transit point for the
transshipment of illicit narcotics destined for the United States and
Europe. The six international airports, 16 seaports and a large
porous frontier with Haiti present Dominican authorities with
serious challenges.
Corruption within the government and the private sector, the
presence of international illicit trafficking cartels, a large informal
economy, and a fragile formal economy make the DR vulnerable
to money laundering and terrorist financing threats. The large
informal economy is a significant market for illicit or smuggled
goods. The under-invoicing of imports and exports by DR
businesses is a relatively common practice for those seeking to
avoid taxes and customs fees. U.S. law enforcement believes
there is some evidence that arms smuggling across Dominican
borders has reached systemic levels as there are identifiable
networks smuggling weapons into the DR from the U.S. The
increase in drug related violence throughout the DR is partially
attributable to arms trafficking as evidenced by the seizures of
illicit weapons at ports of entry over the past year. The major
sources of laundered proceeds stem from illicit trafficking
activities, tax evasion and fraudulent financial activities,
particularly transactions with forged credit cards.
There are no reported hawala or other money or value transfer
services operating in the DR. A significant number of remittances
are transferred through banks. Casinos are legal in DR and
unsupervised gaming activity represents a significant money
laundering risk. While the country has a law creating an
international financial zone, implementing regulations will not be
issued until the law is reformed to avoid perceptions that the zone
will be left out of the DR’s AML regulatory regime.
Do Financial Institutions engage in currency transactions related
to international narcotics trafficking that include significant
amounts of US currency; currency derived from illegal sales in the
U.S.; or that otherwise significantly affect the U.S.: Yes
Criminalization of Money Laundering:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
Know-your-customer (KYC) rules:
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
KYC covered entities: Banks, currency exchange houses,
securities brokers, cashers of checks or other types of negotiable
instruments, issuers/sellers/cashers of travelers checks or money
orders, credit and debit card companies, remittance companies,
offshore financial service providers, casinos, real estate agents,
automobile dealerships, insurance companies, and dealers in
firearms and precious metals
Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) Requirements:
Number of STRs received and time frame: Not available
Number of CTRs received and time frame: Not available
STR covered entities: Banks, agricultural credit institutions,
money exchangers, notaries, gaming centers, securities dealers,
art or antiquity dealers, jewelers and precious metals vendors,
attorneys, financial management firms and travel agencies
Money Laundering Criminal Prosecutions/Convictions:
Prosecutions: 12 in 2011
Convictions: Seven in 2011
Records exchange mechanism:
With U.S.: MLAT: YES Other mechanism: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
The Dominican Republic is a member of the Caribbean Financial
Action Task Force (CFATF), a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-
style regional body. Its most recent mutual evaluation can be
found here: http://www.cfatf-gafic.
org/downloadables/mer/Dominica_3rd_Round_MER_(Final)
_English.pdf
Enforcement and implementation issues and comments:
The DR has made progress on the functioning of its financial
intelligence unit (FIU), but problems remain. Progress includes
greater clarity on the areas covered by disclosure and reporting
requirements; however, there remains a lack of publicly available
information about the numbers of reports submitted by the various
reporting sectors.
The DR also strengthened its laws on PEPs and correspondent
relationships but international experts have outlined key
weaknesses to address. In addition, the DR urgently needs to
pass regulations to provide safe harbor protection for STR filers
and criminalize tipping off. The government also should work to
better regulate casinos and non-bank businesses and
professions, in particular real estate companies, and strengthen
regulations for financial cooperatives and insurance companies.
The DR’s asset forfeiture regime is improving but has weaknesses
because it does not cover confiscation of instrumentalities
intended for use in the commission of a money laundering
offense; property of corresponding value; and income, profits, or
other benefits from the proceeds of crime. The DR should
implement legislation to bring its asset forfeiture regime up to
international standards.
In July 2011, Dominican authorities announced they had
dismantled the core of a narcotics trafficking and money
laundering organization based in the DR. The alleged profits from
the narcotrafficking operation were laundered using banks and
other financial instruments throughout the Western Hemisphere.
The group allegedly had branches in Canada, Colombia,
Venezuela, Jamaica and elsewhere. The investigation was
coordinated by agents from the DR, Central America, South
America, North America, and Interpol.
The Egmont Group expelled the FIU in 2006 due to a lack of
compliance with the definition of an FIU. To date, the FIU has not
been reinstated into that worldwide organization. This seriously
hinders U.S. law enforcement in the exchange of information with
its Dominican counterparts through the two countries’ FIUs. The
Egmont Group has specified the formal steps the DR would need
to take to re-apply for Egmont membership, thereby allowing the
FIU to efficiently and securely share sensitive financial information
with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S.
FIU, as well as with the rest of the Egmont membership. However,
there are still impediments in the Dominican law keeping the FIU
from being considered for membership, such as Law 480/08 which
enables the creation of another FIU-like organization to regulate
international financial zones. The DR should modify the law to
eliminate the possibility of a second FIU, and re-apply for
membership in the Egmont Group.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
The Dominican Republic is an important transit country for illicit
drugs from South America which are destined for North America
and Europe. The U.S. government estimates that the bulk of the
four per-cent of the cocaine through Hispaniola transships
through the Dominican Republic. The United States and
Dominican Republic analysts assess that maritime routes are now
the primary method of smuggling drugs into and out of the country
and recent successful maritime interdiction operations are
validating this assessment. Drug Trafficking Organizations
(DTOs) are using Go-Fast boats and commercial containers to
smuggle drugs into and out of the Dominican Republic. Plus, the
country is experiencing an increase in narcotics related violence,
partially attributable to DTOs’ practice of paying local partners in
narcotics rather than in cash.
In order to combat the influence of DTOs, the Dominican Republic
continued its cooperation with the U.S. government in efforts to
interdict illicit drugs, and extradite criminals charged with narcotics-
related crimes. The Dominicans conducted their own public
outreach efforts to warn youth about the dangers of narcotics.
The United States is actively working with Dominican counterparts
to plan and conduct international operations to seize illicit drugs,
and conduct investigations to dismantle DTOs; however,
corruption continues to interfere with these efforts.
The Dominican Republic is a party to the 1988 UN Drug
Convention.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 2 Watch List)
The Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking
and forced labor. In part due to significant, poverty-driven
migration into and from the country, there is widespread confusion
among the public, the media, government officials, and even
some NGOs about the difference between human trafficking and
human smuggling, complicating efforts to address human
trafficking in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, reports from
various sources in the Dominican Republic and Caribbean
indicate that Dominican women and children are subjected to sex
trafficking throughout the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean,
Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the United States.
Additionally, child sex tourism is a problem, particularly in coastal
resort areas of the Dominican Republic, with child sex tourists
arriving year-round from various developed countries. Officials
and NGOs have documented many cases of children being forced
into domestic service, street vending, begging, agricultural work,
and construction. Reportedly, forced labor of adults exists in
construction, some agricultural production, and the domestic
service sectors. Street children and undocumented or stateless
people of Haitian descent are groups particularly vulnerable to
trafficking, though authorities identified Dominican victims in the
Dominican Republic as well.
The Government of the Dominican Republic does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite some
progress, most notably in the area of identifying and protecting a
greater number of trafficking victims, the government did not
demonstrate overall increasing efforts over the previous reporting
period in prosecuting trafficking offenders, including officials
complicit in forced prostitution and forced labor; therefore, the
Dominican Republic is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2009
The Dominican Republic continued to lack the ability to fully
control its air, land, and sea borders but is making progress to do
so. The Dominican Republic cooperated with U.S. law
enforcement agencies under the Sovereign Skies agreement and
negotiated a MOU for US$ 10 million to upgrade helicopters and
train pilots for counternarcotics operations. In addition, in
December 2009, the Dominicans received the first two Brazilian
Super Tucano aircraft out of an order of eight that will be used to
control its airspace. In another positive step, the Dominican
Republic continued to work with the United States to create a
nation-wide biometric database base that incorporates and
provides timely data from Dominican military, law enforcement,
and judicial databases. Biometric equipment was maintained at
the headquarters of the Dominican National Police and 16 other
key locations, with another 20 sets to be installed. Positive steps
were taken last year by the Dominican Republic to strengthen its
legal regime and capabilities to combat terrorism.
The National Congress passed the General Counterterrorism Act,
thereby creating the legislative framework that defines the
behaviors that constitute acts of terrorism and other related acts.
Since the Dominican Republic is a strategic point for international
trade and tourism, measures were implemented by the
government in coordination with the United States to reinforce
customs controls to prevent terrorist organizations from acquiring
weapons, weapons delivery systems, and the technologies to
manufacture them from persons and institutions located in the
country.
The Dominican Republic, in coordination with the United States
and other international agencies, organized and/or participated in
efforts to strengthen training and international cooperation to
combat terrorism. The Dominican Republic hosted a ministerial
conference in February that engaged various entities of the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in dealing with issues related
to illicit drugs, organized crime, and terrorism. This conference
concluded with the adoption of the Political Declaration on
Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Other
Serious Crimes in the Caribbean. The Office of the Attorney
General for the Dominican Republic sponsored Specialized
Training in the Prevention and Fight against Terrorism and
Terrorist Financing. In November, law enforcement and high-level
officials from the Dominican Republic took part in an UNODC
Terrorism workshop in the Bahamas and examined trends and
discussed the legal framework and mechanisms of international
cooperation in the fight against terrorism. In March, the Dominican
Republic’s counterterrorism unit known as Secretaria de Las
Fuerzas Armadas Commando Especial Contra Terrorismo was
trained as part of U.S. Southern Command, Special Operations
Command-South’s Exercise Fused Response. Fused Response
provided real world scenarios that tested the commandos’ ability
to perform counterterrorism type missions. In September, the
Dominican Republic participated in a U.S.-sponsored military
training exercise, PANAMAX. This particular exercise was
designed by U.S. Southern Command to address teamwork and to
strengthen the Country’s ability to operate jointly against
terrorism. As a means to improve border security, members of the
specialized Border Security Force were trained by members of the
U.S. Border Patrol.
While many land border, ports, and airline hubs remained
permeable, the United States assisted the Dominican Republic on
various initiatives to improve security, such as the Container
Security Initiative. Port Caucedo was identified as a Megaport and
its certification was part of the Customs Trade Partnership Against
Terrorism Initiative.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
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| Further Tables |
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*Please note that FATF deems that a country has significant aml deficiencies if
any of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated
either Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
any of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated
either Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
| DOMINICAN REPUBLIC |
| KnowYourCountry |
|
|
| Last Updated: 16 April 2012 |