Monique Hepburn, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
The Ministry of Justice is expecting to see an increase in the number of convictions in financial crimes as a result of the training and certification of 15 persons who recently completed a Financial Crimes Investigation course under the auspices of the Justice Training Institute (JTI) in Montego Bay.
The graduates, who were drawn from public and private organisations including the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court, the Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department in the Ministry of Finance and the banking sector were trained during the period May 16-August 3. They were presented with their certificates in a ceremony held at the Wyndham Rose Hall Hotel on Thursday.
"These persons who are graduating today are now equipped with the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies to improve their job performance," said Carol Palmer, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, in delivering the keynote address. "Hence over time we would hope to see significant breakthroughs in the kind of investigations conducted in financial crimes that would ultimately result in increased conviction rates."
Mrs. Palmer said that with the increased skills in the detection of financial crimes, it was her expectation that persons who are thinking of committing financial crimes will be deterred.
heightened competencies
"It is also our hope that the heightened competencies and skills be a deterrent to those who would have intentions to commit similar offences given the high likelihood of being caught and convicted," she said. "I say we look forward to it because one has to set standards and then be bold enough to live up to them."
Since 2005 a total of 51 persons who have been trained to detect financial crimes, including 36 staff members of the Supreme Court and several Resident Magistrates Courts, banks such as The Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Jamaica, Pan Caribbean Merchant Bank and the Deve-lopment Bank of Jamaica, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Investigations Division.
In speaking to the need for a systematic approach to crime prevention and the administration of justice, Mrs. Palmer said, "We must recognise that the solution to crime does not rest solely with the police, but with all of us."
She said the success of any criminal investigation is determined by the degree to which the cooperation of citizens can be secured and the collaborative capabilities of the various
agencies.
