PHILIPSBURG:--- The Public Prosecutor of the Attorney General's Office of Curacao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba has offered three suspects of money laundering an out-of-court settlement.
All suspects, a legal entity incorporated under the laws of Anguilla named Prospect Trading Limited and its ultimate beneficial owners, an entrepreneurial couple residing on Sint Maarten, have accepted the proposal.
Investigation Amoer
In 2014 and 2015, a Sint Maarten based financial institution reported several unusual transactions (which could be linked to the aforementioned suspects) to the Financial Intelligence Unit (hereinafter: "FIU"). After analysis by the FIU, these were identified as suspicious transactions and subsequently reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
From June 2016, a special investigation team consisting of investigators from the Sint Maarten Police Force (KPSM) and the Special Police Taskforce (RST) investigated possible cross-border money laundering infrastructures. This investigation, codenamed Amoer, was performed under authority of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Suspected complex money laundering construction
Through extensive investigations - where the investigative team was to a large extent dependent on assistance from the judicial authorities of Canada, Germany, and the United States of America - several suspicious money flows were identified. The Public Prosecutor's Office suspects that these are part of a complex, cross-border money laundering scheme that could launder large amounts of money.
A cluster of companies active in the car rental industry on Sint Maarten frequently transferred money to the Anguillan legal entity from where further distribution took place. This happened beyond the reach of the authorities in Sint Maarten.
Certain typical patterns are recognizable in the investigated money flows. For example, with the intervention of the Anguillan entity and (foreign) bank accounts, the money flowed through several jurisdictions without a clear economic purpose. This is a so-called money laundering typology.
Part of the money flows was accounted for by a web of intercompany loans but also by money loans between the Anguillan entity and the various Sint Maarten car rental operating companies. Investigation revealed that this accounting was not conclusive. On the contrary: according to the Public Prosecutor's Office it showed irregularities.
This contributes to the money laundering suspicion.
In addition, the alleged money laundering cycle revealed frequent cash exchanges (without clear economic purpose). These exchanges were made through cheques issued on behalf of various companies and subsequent withdrawals and deposits into the private accounts of the entrepreneurial couple. This was followed by cross-border transfers which ended in a couple of events in the purchase of a real estate in Germany and the United States of America but also in private spending through credit card transactions. Such behavior related to the transfer of funds is internationally considered as a money laundering typology: it may indicate an intended interruption or concealment of the paper trail.
Money laundering without a demonstrable predicate offense
The investigation did not lead to the identification of a specific crime from which the circulated money may have originated, in legal jargon also referred to as a "demonstrable predicate offense". For a suspicion of money laundering, it is not necessary to identify such an offense. The process of money laundering itself is independently punishable, regardless of whether one or more predicate offenses can be indicated.
