Wade N. Smith now Acting Director @ FIA
In 2018, Smith resigned from his post at HM Customs to pursue a political career under the Ronnie W. Skelton led PVIM, making the announcement at the official December 7, 2018, launch ceremony of the party.
Mr Smith’s position as the Acting Director of FIA came to fore during the deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) held between November 20 and 29, 2019 at the Office of the House of Assembly in Road Town, Tortola and now, the agency may be grappling with limited resources to carry out its 2020 mandate.
FIA 2020 Mandate
According to the SFC Report, from an enforcement standpoint, the FIA will seek to have certain offences in the FIA Act and other related laws that cover matters that fall in the remit of FIA, compounded.
“There is an option to impose an administrative penalty as oppose to penalties being purely criminal. As it stands because the penalties for the offences of the FIU are criminal, all matters have to be referred to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution,” the report detailed.
With the aim of improving money laundering enforcement, the unit also plans to do more parallel investigations with other law enforcement agencies such as RVIPF and HM Customs, “as the FIU possess the technical expertise in money laundering and terrorist financing.”
It said the Criminal Conduct Act of 1997 also gives the Director and Investigation the powers to that of police officers.
57% increase in Suspicious Activity Reports
It was reported that there has been a 57% increase in Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs); however, the agency was only able to analyse less than 4% of the SARs because of limited resources.
“The funds are limited and therefore the agency is left to rely on other agencies for support with specialised training within RVIPF and HM Customs rather than other costly secondments to the agency,” the SFC report said.
The agency requested a $2.4M budget, noting that it is needed in order to make sure that it runs at its full capacity and to make sure that the exercise is completed at a national standard; however, was only granted $1.6m amidst concerns that the amount does not allow the agency to meet its mandate and annual expenditures.
Opposition raises concerns
Opposition Members Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) and Hon Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) raised concerns over the limited budget, with Mr Vanterpool stating that for such an important agency the monies should be allocated.
Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) promised to do his best to make sure the agency’s request was revisited; however, queries to Premier Fahie from Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) to ascertain whether this was done were not addressed up to publication time.
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23 Responses to “Wade N. Smith now Acting Director @ FIA”
BVI is now more than sure to get black listed with **** at the Helm. The state of Customs Department says it all. M.A.F.I.A....
*** is one person you cannot trust he got to many of his rich friend in his pocket