And finally, from today's Senate Meeting, we report on the debate over the government's Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
According to the Leader of Government Business, this bill is essential because it will allow the government to increase its oversight of local financial organizations to oblige them to file detailed financial reports. Senator Eamon Courtenay told his colleagues that Belize is taking this step because it does not want to be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, "FATF," which is policing international money laundering and the financing of terrorism & proliferation:
Eamon Courtenay - Leader of Government Business
"Madam President, I rise to move the second reading of a bill for an act on the Mutual Administrative Assistance and Tax Mothers Act Chapter 103 of the substantive laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020, to increase the statutory period for retention of records by reporting financial institutions to impose civil sanctions on reporting financial institutions, for failure to apply due diligence procedures on persons, for providing false certifications, to provide a threshold for controlling persons, and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Madam President, this is a very technical piece of legislation. The purpose is, as stated, to bring us into compliance with some of our obligations to the OECD under the Financial Action Task Force and under the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. These are reporting requirements, and we are making sure that if you fail to do due diligence and to make reporting on a timely basis, you can be fined. And it brings us - we are trying to avoid being blacklisted like we were under the previous government."
