THE ASSOCIATION of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is about to step up its campaign against money laundering in the Caribbean, said Sha Ali Khan, ACCA's head of monitoring and supervision.
The ACCA, which has 20,000 members and students in the region, has been in discussions with regional and national institutes in the Caribbean to encourage and assist them in setting up monitoring programmes which will include inspection visits to accountancy firms. The inspection visits should include supporting professional accountants in their responsibilities in preventing fraud and money laundering.
The ACCA is also about to begin its own programme of monitoring visits to ACCA practices in the Caribbean which will encompass the steps accountants should take if they suspect money laundering has taken place. ACCA will invite national institutes - who already work closely with ACCA on other matters - to participate in these visits.
MONITORING VISITS
"The monitoring visits in the Caribbean will mirror what our Monitoring Unit undertakes elsewhere in the world," said Sha Ali Khan. "We will visit practices and will raise any relevant issues with them following those inspections. ACCA will not tolerate its members undertaking criminal activities of any sort, including money laundering. I would like to reassure members of the public that if they have any concerns about ACCA members' conduct they can raise them with us and we will investigate."
ACCA supports worldwide standards on how to combat money laundering and fraud, the preventative measures they should take and the circumstances in which they should report their suspicions to the appropriate authority. It has been monitoring practices in the U.K., Africa and Asia and is now extending its programme to the Caribbean.
"Given the concerns over white collar crime, these measures are intended to support ACCA professionals in the region and reassure the public that we are determined to help tackle these issues head on," Khan said. "It's essential that if the region is to continue to attract inward investment it must show that it is tackling those issues which are of concern in the world's major financial centres."
