Two pieces of legislation were virtually merged in the Anguilla House of Assembly on Friday, September 20, to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act. The objective was to ensure that Anguilla was fully commitmented to all the requirements of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.
The legislation comprised the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Financial Services(Amendment) Bill 2013 which have made substantial changes to the provisions of the Principal Proceeds of Crime Act.
Attorney General, James Wood, told the House that the Financial Services (Amendment) Bill “goes hand in hand with the Proceeds of Crime Bill as a result of a mutual evaluation of Anguilla under the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force procedures.”
He explained that the legislation had “as its primary objective both the correction of errors and the resolution of issues which were discovered, and also to clarify provisions relating to the supervisory functions and enforcement.”
The amendments, in keeping with Anguilla’s position and commitment as a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, received the full support of all members of the House of Assembly. The amendments were in relation to the selection of boards, the number and responsibility of board members, various roles of the Financial Services Commission and other matters. The amendments were made from clause 1 to clause 54 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Meanwhile, later in the day, Mr Wood spoke about the above two pieces of legislation while addressing Caribbean nationals at the closing ceremony of a workshop on the Consolidation of Laws at the Law Revision Centre in Anguilla. He said:
“We had an extended meeting of the House of Assembly this morning where two bills were passed amending the Proceeds of Crime Act and also the Financial Services Commission Act.”
He continued: “The same Proceeds of Crime Act started out as an Act which ran to about 140 pages, or something like that, and the amending Act today probably ran to about 50 pages. So one can perhaps see how difficult it can be for practitioners, the general public, the courts and so forth, if they are presented with these two different documents. It becomes incredibly difficult to try to work out what the law is; where words are changed throughout the Act; where parts have been repealed and others have been implemented. It becomes incredibly difficult.
“I am sure you now fully appreciate the benefits of proper consolidation of laws so that, rather than having to look through all of those documents together, one can look at a properly constructed single consolidated Act.”
