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Sanctions:
EU has restrictive measures in place re prohibition to satisfy
claims with regard to contracts and transactions whose
performance is affected by the measures taken in accordance
with UN Security Council Resolutions 917(1994), 841 (1993), 873
(1993) and 875 (1993)
For further information, pleas visit the following link: -
http://ec.europa.
eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/docs/measures_en.pdf
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2012:
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and relies
heavily on remittances from abroad. Haitian organized crime
groups are engaged in drug trafficking and other criminal and
fraudulent activity, but do not at this time appear to be involved in
terrorist financing. While not a major financial center itself,
regional money laundering enterprises utilize Haitian couriers,
especially via air hub routes to Central America.
The weakness of the Haitian judicial system and prosecutorial
mechanism continues to leave the country vulnerable to
corruption and money laundering despite improving financial
intelligence and enforcement capacity. A positive development in
this regard was the naming of a President of Haiti’s Supreme
Court in October.
Haiti has one operational free trade zone in Ouanaminthe and two
under development in Port-au-Prince. It is believed
“contrabanding” (using smuggled bulk cash to buy products which
are shipped to South America and sold) could be a problem.
There are at least 62 casinos in Haiti, the majority unlicensed;
however, online gaming is illegal.
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: NO
Know-your-customer (KYC) rules:
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: NO
Domestic: NO
KYC covered entities: All natural and legal persons who, as part of
their profession, perform, oversee, or advise operations involving
deposits, trading, investments, conversions, or any other
movement of capital
Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) Requirements:
Number of STRs received and time frame: 49 from January 1 to
October 19, 2011
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 244,297 from January
1 to October 19, 2011
STR covered entities: All natural and legal persons who, as part
of their profession, perform, oversee, or advise operations
involving deposits, trading, investments, conversions, or any other
movement of capital
Money Laundering Criminal Prosecutions/Convictions:
Prosecutions: None
Convictions: None
Records exchange mechanism:
With U.S.: MLAT: YES Other mechanism: NO
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Haiti 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/Haiti_3rd_Round_MER_
(Final)_English.pdf
Enforcement and implementation issues and comments:
In the spring of 2011, concerns were raised on the effectiveness
of law enforcement and customs in the wake of a U.S.-
Panamanian law enforcement operation which traced over $100
million in cash arriving annually from Haiti to Panama via
scheduled commercial airline flights. Neither the Haitian banking
sector nor customs officials at Port-au-Prince’s international
airport were aware of these transfers that averaged $25,000 per
passenger and over $1 million per flight.
The Government of Haiti (GOH) remains hampered by ineffective
and outdated criminal and criminal procedural codes, and by the
inability of judges and courts to address cases referred for
prosecution. The government should move ahead on the
proposed new criminal and criminal procedural codes that would
address these problems. The GOH should pass the anti-terrorist
legislation that has been submitted to Parliament which would
criminalize terrorist financing and allow the immediate freezing of
terrorist assets without delay.
Haiti’s AML law is written quite broadly and does not explicitly
cover the types of entities addressed in the international
standards. Implementation of the current law appears to cover
only the banking industry. Financial entities not supervised by the
Central Bank and designated non-financial businesses and
professions are not subject to supervisory oversight and/or have
not received appropriate training regarding their AML/CFT
responsibilities. Haiti’s AML law should be rewritten or amended to
explicitly detail the types of entities subject to the law, as
proscribed in the international standards.
The amount of STRs is extremely low and only the banking sector
submits reports. The Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF)
is ineffective due to its limited budget, lack of staff training and
integrity, broad interpretation of the law, lack of autonomy, and
limited access to foreign counterparts’ information. The
government should fully fund UCREF and other anti-money
laundering entities. UCREF should become fully operational and
should seek membership in the Egmont Group of FIUs so that it
can effectively share sensitive financial information with its foreign
counterparts.
The Haitian government’s assistance to the U.S. Government was
instrumental in obtaining, among other charges, money
laundering and bribery convictions against several U.S. residents
in a scheme involving the use of shell companies and false
records to attempt to provide over $890,000 in bribes to Haitian
officials.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
Haiti remains a transit point for cocaine originating in South
America for transshipment to the United States, Canada, Europe,
and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Narcotics arrive via both sea and
air and depart in the same manner. Drugs are also transported
over the land border to the Dominican Republic. Marijuana
transshipments originating in Jamaica bound for The Bahamas
and the United States are also a concern. However, Haiti is not a
significant producer of illicit drugs for export, though cultivation of
marijuana for local consumption does occur on a modest scale.
As the poorest country in the hemisphere, Haiti’s largely
subsistence-level standard of living is not fertile ground for
widespread domestic drug consumption.
Haiti faces challenges in combating the drug trafficking threat.
Security and judicial institutions, including the national police
force, are still in the early stages of professional development.
Like many governmental functions in the country, they suffer from
lack of transparency, resources and insufficient attention from the
political levels of the Haitian government. This year was
particularly unsettled on the political front as there were delays in
both the first and second round of presidential voting, with the
election cycle finally coming to an end on April 4. The Parliament
then rejected President Martelly’s first two Prime Minister
candidates, with the third ultimately securing approval on October
5. These delays resulted in virtual policy paralysis in most Haitian
governmental ministries, including the Ministry of Justice.
Haiti is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Special Case)
The massive physical destruction in the wake of the 2010
earthquake, including the destruction of governmental buildings,
equipment, and loss of personnel, and the continued lack of
fundamental infrastructure throughout the government, severely
limited the government’s ability to function in many areas,
including in areas of law enforcement, social services and border
control. This had a similarly limiting effect upon the government’s
ability to address trafficking in persons. For these reasons, Haiti
remains a Special Case for the sixth consecutive year. The
extreme impact of the earthquake on the operational capacity of
the Haitian government persisted throughout 2010 and into 2011.
Twelve out of the 13 ministries collapsed in the earthquake, none
of which have been rebuilt. Hundreds of civil servants and
technocrats were killed, taking with them institutional knowledge
and experience, and files were lost or destroyed. The Haitian
government’s ministries operated out of tents and in overcrowded
makeshift buildings. Although Haiti has a significant child
trafficking problem, the Haitian National Police Brigade for
Protection of Minors (BPM), responsible for investigating crimes
against children has a minimal staff of 35 for the entire country,
and lacks vehicles or investigational materials to inspect childcare
facilities around the country. Border patrol lacks capacity to
monitor the four official border crossings effectively, let alone the
entire territorial border. Finally, the justice system is largely non-
functional, as detention backlogs go back years, and few cases
advance without some form of bribes or political pressure. The
slow pace of reconstruction after the earthquake and the lack of
government infrastructure obstructed basic government efforts to
address trafficking in the country.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2009
The Financial Investigative Unit, within the Haitian National Police;
and the Financial Intelligence Unit, within the Ministry of Justice,
cooperated with the United States in anti-money laundering
initiatives to improve the ability to detect funds acquired through
criminal activity, including funds that could be acquired through
terrorist networks. The Haitian government drafted
counterterrorism legislation in 2008 but it was not enacted by
Parliament in 2009. In addition, the country has accepted the
terms of the International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism, but has not formally signed the
Convention.
EU has restrictive measures in place re prohibition to satisfy
claims with regard to contracts and transactions whose
performance is affected by the measures taken in accordance
with UN Security Council Resolutions 917(1994), 841 (1993), 873
(1993) and 875 (1993)
For further information, pleas visit the following link: -
http://ec.europa.
eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/docs/measures_en.pdf
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2012:
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and relies
heavily on remittances from abroad. Haitian organized crime
groups are engaged in drug trafficking and other criminal and
fraudulent activity, but do not at this time appear to be involved in
terrorist financing. While not a major financial center itself,
regional money laundering enterprises utilize Haitian couriers,
especially via air hub routes to Central America.
The weakness of the Haitian judicial system and prosecutorial
mechanism continues to leave the country vulnerable to
corruption and money laundering despite improving financial
intelligence and enforcement capacity. A positive development in
this regard was the naming of a President of Haiti’s Supreme
Court in October.
Haiti has one operational free trade zone in Ouanaminthe and two
under development in Port-au-Prince. It is believed
“contrabanding” (using smuggled bulk cash to buy products which
are shipped to South America and sold) could be a problem.
There are at least 62 casinos in Haiti, the majority unlicensed;
however, online gaming is illegal.
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: NO
Know-your-customer (KYC) rules:
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: NO
Domestic: NO
KYC covered entities: All natural and legal persons who, as part of
their profession, perform, oversee, or advise operations involving
deposits, trading, investments, conversions, or any other
movement of capital
Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) Requirements:
Number of STRs received and time frame: 49 from January 1 to
October 19, 2011
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 244,297 from January
1 to October 19, 2011
STR covered entities: All natural and legal persons who, as part
of their profession, perform, oversee, or advise operations
involving deposits, trading, investments, conversions, or any other
movement of capital
Money Laundering Criminal Prosecutions/Convictions:
Prosecutions: None
Convictions: None
Records exchange mechanism:
With U.S.: MLAT: YES Other mechanism: NO
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Haiti 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/Haiti_3rd_Round_MER_
(Final)_English.pdf
Enforcement and implementation issues and comments:
In the spring of 2011, concerns were raised on the effectiveness
of law enforcement and customs in the wake of a U.S.-
Panamanian law enforcement operation which traced over $100
million in cash arriving annually from Haiti to Panama via
scheduled commercial airline flights. Neither the Haitian banking
sector nor customs officials at Port-au-Prince’s international
airport were aware of these transfers that averaged $25,000 per
passenger and over $1 million per flight.
The Government of Haiti (GOH) remains hampered by ineffective
and outdated criminal and criminal procedural codes, and by the
inability of judges and courts to address cases referred for
prosecution. The government should move ahead on the
proposed new criminal and criminal procedural codes that would
address these problems. The GOH should pass the anti-terrorist
legislation that has been submitted to Parliament which would
criminalize terrorist financing and allow the immediate freezing of
terrorist assets without delay.
Haiti’s AML law is written quite broadly and does not explicitly
cover the types of entities addressed in the international
standards. Implementation of the current law appears to cover
only the banking industry. Financial entities not supervised by the
Central Bank and designated non-financial businesses and
professions are not subject to supervisory oversight and/or have
not received appropriate training regarding their AML/CFT
responsibilities. Haiti’s AML law should be rewritten or amended to
explicitly detail the types of entities subject to the law, as
proscribed in the international standards.
The amount of STRs is extremely low and only the banking sector
submits reports. The Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF)
is ineffective due to its limited budget, lack of staff training and
integrity, broad interpretation of the law, lack of autonomy, and
limited access to foreign counterparts’ information. The
government should fully fund UCREF and other anti-money
laundering entities. UCREF should become fully operational and
should seek membership in the Egmont Group of FIUs so that it
can effectively share sensitive financial information with its foreign
counterparts.
The Haitian government’s assistance to the U.S. Government was
instrumental in obtaining, among other charges, money
laundering and bribery convictions against several U.S. residents
in a scheme involving the use of shell companies and false
records to attempt to provide over $890,000 in bribes to Haitian
officials.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2012 (introduction):
Haiti remains a transit point for cocaine originating in South
America for transshipment to the United States, Canada, Europe,
and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Narcotics arrive via both sea and
air and depart in the same manner. Drugs are also transported
over the land border to the Dominican Republic. Marijuana
transshipments originating in Jamaica bound for The Bahamas
and the United States are also a concern. However, Haiti is not a
significant producer of illicit drugs for export, though cultivation of
marijuana for local consumption does occur on a modest scale.
As the poorest country in the hemisphere, Haiti’s largely
subsistence-level standard of living is not fertile ground for
widespread domestic drug consumption.
Haiti faces challenges in combating the drug trafficking threat.
Security and judicial institutions, including the national police
force, are still in the early stages of professional development.
Like many governmental functions in the country, they suffer from
lack of transparency, resources and insufficient attention from the
political levels of the Haitian government. This year was
particularly unsettled on the political front as there were delays in
both the first and second round of presidential voting, with the
election cycle finally coming to an end on April 4. The Parliament
then rejected President Martelly’s first two Prime Minister
candidates, with the third ultimately securing approval on October
5. These delays resulted in virtual policy paralysis in most Haitian
governmental ministries, including the Ministry of Justice.
Haiti is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Special Case)
The massive physical destruction in the wake of the 2010
earthquake, including the destruction of governmental buildings,
equipment, and loss of personnel, and the continued lack of
fundamental infrastructure throughout the government, severely
limited the government’s ability to function in many areas,
including in areas of law enforcement, social services and border
control. This had a similarly limiting effect upon the government’s
ability to address trafficking in persons. For these reasons, Haiti
remains a Special Case for the sixth consecutive year. The
extreme impact of the earthquake on the operational capacity of
the Haitian government persisted throughout 2010 and into 2011.
Twelve out of the 13 ministries collapsed in the earthquake, none
of which have been rebuilt. Hundreds of civil servants and
technocrats were killed, taking with them institutional knowledge
and experience, and files were lost or destroyed. The Haitian
government’s ministries operated out of tents and in overcrowded
makeshift buildings. Although Haiti has a significant child
trafficking problem, the Haitian National Police Brigade for
Protection of Minors (BPM), responsible for investigating crimes
against children has a minimal staff of 35 for the entire country,
and lacks vehicles or investigational materials to inspect childcare
facilities around the country. Border patrol lacks capacity to
monitor the four official border crossings effectively, let alone the
entire territorial border. Finally, the justice system is largely non-
functional, as detention backlogs go back years, and few cases
advance without some form of bribes or political pressure. The
slow pace of reconstruction after the earthquake and the lack of
government infrastructure obstructed basic government efforts to
address trafficking in the country.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2009
The Financial Investigative Unit, within the Haitian National Police;
and the Financial Intelligence Unit, within the Ministry of Justice,
cooperated with the United States in anti-money laundering
initiatives to improve the ability to detect funds acquired through
criminal activity, including funds that could be acquired through
terrorist networks. The Haitian government drafted
counterterrorism legislation in 2008 but it was not enacted by
Parliament in 2009. In addition, the country has accepted the
terms of the International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism, but has not formally signed the
Convention.
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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.
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.
| HAITI |
| KnowYourCountry |
|
________________________________________________________
AML Links / Relevant Information
May 26, 2011 - Brief statement re the economy post earthquake
extracted from IMF report on Haiti: -
Read Statement (internal link)
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
AML Links / Relevant Information
May 26, 2011 - Brief statement re the economy post earthquake
extracted from IMF report on Haiti: -
Read Statement (internal link)
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
|
| Last Updated: 16 April 2012 |