Financial Intelligence Team (The FIU)
The Island requires an FIU in order to comply with Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CFT) Recommendations issued by the Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) – Recommendation 29 requiring that:
“Countries should establish an FIU that serves as a national centre for the receipt and analysis of: (a) suspicious transaction reports; and (b) other information relevant to money laundering, associated predicate offences and terrorist financing, and for the dissemination of the results of that analysis...."
When SARs are received an initial assessment is made with respect to issues such as the granting of consent.
Further analysis will determine how the intelligence is developed and this may include disseminating it on an intelligence basis, typically to an equivalent overseas FIU, where this is appropriate and permitted by legislation. Any such dissemination is completed on a sanitised basis with strict conditions on how such information may be handled and subsequently processed.
In addition to dealing with SARs, the Intelligence team also receives and responds to requests for assistance (RFAs), typically from overseas FIUs on AML / CFT enquiries, as well as miscellaneous information reports (MIRs) from a variety of sources.
Please see our Annual and Statistical Reports section for further analysis
This team is responsible for carrying out criminal investigations into serious and complex fraud, often but not always originating from the development of SARs. The majority of work is undertaken in conjunction with the Law Officers’ Department (LOD), and powers exercisable by the Attorney General within the Investigation of Fraud (Jersey) Law 1991.
Owing to the complexity of such investigations, including extensive overseas connections, these are very often protracted and significant in terms of the volumes of documentary and electronic evidence obtained. They are also expensive to resource for the Island, with the services of appointed lawyers, forensic accountants and other professionals being necessary.
High profile convictions arising from investigations involving the Operational team and LOD include that of local accountant Peter Michel and Indian businessman Raj Bhojwani for a number of money laundering offences.
JCIS officers undertake specialised investigations required to confiscate the realisable assets of those who have been convicted for drug trafficking offences. In addition, they oversee all cash seizures made under the Proceeds of Crime (Cash Seizure) (Jersey) Law 2008.
One important aspect of JFCU work is dealing with the responses to Liaison Notices which are sent out to the industry following an individual having been charged with a drug trafficking offence. Such responses very often quickly identify where illegitimate funds exist, or have existed, and are extremely valuable in assisting with restraining and later confiscating funds, as well as providing investigative avenues to help determine to what extent such individuals have benefited financially from their criminal activities.
JFCU have two specialist Analysts and one Forensic Accounting Support who provide support to all three teams, as well as producing regular management information and statistics.
The receipt and processing of SARs and RFAs requires significant administrative support, in terms of database maintenance and formal responses. This is particularly important with the issue of consent. Administrative staff carry out other functions such as background checks, communication with outside agencies, and are the first point of contact for generic approaches to the JFCU.The administrative function is vital in ensuring such processes flow smoothly and that there are no unnecessary delays.
Close working with the LOD has already been mentioned from an investigative perspective. Owing to the overseas connections of the majority of SARs and subsequent jurisdictional issues that may arise, there is also frequent dialogue between the Intelligence team and the LOD, with the LOD being the office in Jersey responsible for receiving and processing formal Letters of Request from overseas. Confiscation staff also have frequent communication with the LOD to formally restrain (via a “saisie judiciarie”) assets prior to any eventual confiscation. Such processes are conducted in the Royal Court upon application by the Attorney General and hence the involvement of the LOD.
There is a significant overlap with certain aspects of the regulatory work of the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) and there is a close working relationship between the JFSC and JFCU. The JFCU are in frequent communication with a large number of financial institutions locally who are regulated by the JFSC; while the vast majority cause no concern, there are at times issues which require the joint consideration of more than one agency and the JFCU, JFSC and LOD meet regularly on a tripartite basis to discuss matters of mutual interest.
AML/CFT Strategy Group
The JFSC, JFCU (SoJP and JCIS) and the LOD sit on an AML/CFT Strategy Group. An Island Strategy to Counter Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism document has been produced and can be found here.
