Lessons learned over preparation, says Trott

The States spent the best part of four years, and more than £20m., getting ready for the evaluation and on-island inspection.

It was the first time the island had been inspected since 2016.

‘That was a big lesson learned,’ said Deputy Trott.

‘We won’t allow a “cliff edge” to manifest itself again. Preparation for the next visit starts now and it will be maintained with momentum, so that we don’t need to have the same unprecedented amount of effort we experienced in the 18 months to April 2024.’

One of the most visible elements of the work done has included establishing the Economic & Financial Crime Bureau in 2021 as an independent ‘dedicated and powerful organisation’, indicating a strategic shift in pursuing money laundering activity.

But even the States admits that this has only been achieved to a limited extent so far, in part due to difficulties in finding staff.

Deputy Rob Prow said that at the start of the process it was identified that economic crime and the Financial Intelligence Unit were too embedded in law enforcement.

‘We have recruited significantly into that and it’s an improving position and the report recognises the great strides that have been made.

‘What we have now is the potential to move us forward.

‘It’s indicating that some of this should have been done earlier rather than saying what we have now is not sufficient. We are in a much better place through this process than where we were at the beginning of the term.’

The EFCB is currently recruiting for deputy director-level appointments as head of operations of the criminal division and head of operations in asset recovery.

Deputy Prow said that a lot of staff had been seconded to the bureau over time from law enforcement and elsewhere.

The Moneyval report did also find that, despite the low number of cases, all types of money laundering have been successfully prosecuted.