BELIZE: MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM (PREVENTION) ACT, 2008 … › pdf › Belize_Money_Laundering_and... · 1. This Act may be cited as the MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM (PREVENTION)

BELIZE:

MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM (PREVENTION)ACT, 2008

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I — PRELIMINARY

1. Short title.2. Interpretation.

PART II — MONEY LAUNDERING ANDTERRORISM PROHIBITED

3. Offence of money laundering.4. Penalty for money laundering.5. Offence of terrorism and penalty.6. Offence committed by a body of persons.7. Attempts, aiding and abetting, conspiracy.8. Tipping-off.9. Falsification, concealment, etc., of documents.10. Extra-territorial jurisdiction.

PART III — ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ANDANTI-TERRORISM SUPERVISION

11. Powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit.12. Freezing of funds connected with terrorism.13. Disclosure to foreign institutions and agencies.14. Agreements and arrangements by the Financial Intelligence Unit.15. Reporting entities to identify and verify identity of customer.16. Other obligations of reporting entities.17. Reporting of suspicious transactions by reporting entities.18. Reporting entity to appoint a compliance officer and establish proce-

dures, etc.

19. Financial institutions and money transmission service providers toinclude originator information.

20. FIU’s power to obtain search warrants.21. Role of supervisory authority.22. Sanctions by supervisory authorities.23. Production orders.24. Evidential value of information.25. Failure to comply with a production order.26. Production orders in relation to foreign offences.27. Power to search for and seize documents relevant to locating property.28. Search warrant for location of documents relevant to locating prop-

erty.29. Powers to search for and seize tainted property or terrorist property.30. Search warrants in relation to tainted property or terrorist property.31. Search warrants in relation to foreign offences.32. Monitoring orders.33. Monitoring orders not to be disclosed.34. Power to intercept communications and the admissibility of inter-

cepted communications.35. Mandatory injunction to enforce compliance.36. Other measures to avoid money laundering and terrorist financing.37. Currency reporting when entering or leaving Belize.38. Seizure and detention of suspicious imports or exports of currency.

PART IV — FREEZING AND FORFEITURE OF ASSETS INRELATION TO MONEY LAUNDERING AND

TERRORIST FINANCING

39. Application for a Restraining Order.40. Restraining orders.41. Undertaking by the Government.42. Notice of application for restraining order.43. Service of restraining order.44. Registration of restraining order.45. Contravention of restraining order.46. Duration of restraining order.47. Review of restraining order.48. Extension of restraining order.

ii

49. Forfeiture order on conviction.50. Effect of forfeiture order on conviction.51. Voidable transfers.52. Protection of third parties.53. Discharge of forfeiture order on appeal and quashing of conviction.54. Payment instead of a forfeiture order.55. Application of procedure for enforcing fines.56. Forfeiture where a person dies or absconds.57. Pecuniary penalty order on conviction.58. Rules for determining benefit and assessing value.59. Statements relating to benefit from commission of serious crimes.60. Amount recovered under pecuniary penalty order.61. Variation of pecuniary penalty order.62. Lifting the corporate veil.63. Enforcement of pecuniary penalty order.64. Discharge of pecuniary penalty order.65. Rights of bona fide third parties.66. Immunity from action.67. Seizure and detention of terrorist cash.68. Terrorist financing.69. Related offences in relation to terrorist financing.70. Dealing in terrorist property.71. Directives.72. Application for forfeiture order.73. Notice of Application.74. Forfeiture order for terrorist property.75. Effect of forfeiture order in respect of terrorist property.

PART V — INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

76. Assistance to foreign countries.

PART VI — MISCELLANEOUS

77. Money laundering and terrorist financing to be extraditable offences.78. Establishment of the Fund.79. Receipts and Disbursements.

iii

80. Annual report to National Assembly.81. Secrecy obligations overridden.82. Disclosure protected.83. General penalty for non-compliance.84. Investigation and prosecution of offences.85. Limitation of proceedings.86. Regulations.87. Commencement.88. Repeal of Chapter 104.

FIRST SCHEDULE — Activities and businesses subject to this Act.

SECOND SCHEDULE — Serious Offences

THIRD SCHEDULE — Supervisory authorities

FOURTH SCHEDULE — Counter Terrorism Conventions

__________ .. __________

iv

AN ACT to make new and improved provisions for theinvestigation and prosecution of money laundering,terrorism and other related crimes; to provide for theforfeiture of the proceeds of crime and terroristproperty; to require reporting entities to takepreventative measures to help combat moneylaundering and terrorist financing; and to provide formatters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

(Gazetted 31st December, 2008.)

BE IT ENACTED, by and with the advice and consent ofthe House of Representatives and the Senate of Belizeand by the authority of the same, as follows:-

PART I

PRELIMINARY

1. This Act may be cited as the

MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM(PREVENTION) ACT, 2008.

No. 18] Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) 99

Short title.

No. 18 of 2008

I assent,

(SIR COLVILLE N. YOUNG)Governor-General

30th December, 2008

Interpretation. 2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise re-quires–

“account” means any facility or arrangement by which afinancial institution does any one or more of the following:

(a) accepts deposits of currency;

(b) allows withdrawals of currency or transfersinto or out of the account;

(c) pays cheques or payment orders drawn on afinancial institution by, or collects cheques orpayment orders on behalf of, a person;

(d) supplies a facility or arrangement for a safetydeposit box;

(e) accepts or holds stocks, bonds or mutual funds;

“accused” means a person charged with a serious crime,whether or not he has been convicted of the crime, andincludes in the case of proceedings for a production order,monitoring order, customer information order, warrant orrestraining order under this Act, a person who is about to becharged with a serious crime or is being investigated for aserious crime;

“authorized officer” means a person or class of personsdesignated as such by the Minister;

“beneficial owner” means the natural person who ultimatelyowns or controls a customer, the person on behalf of whoma transaction is conducted or the person who exercisesultimate control over a legal person or legal arrangement;

“business relationship” or “business transaction” meansany arrangement, including opening an account, between

100 Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) [No.18

two or more persons where the purpose of the arrangementis to facilitate a transaction between the persons concernedand includes any related transaction between any of thepersons concerned and another person;

“collective investment scheme” means a scheme, inwhatever form, in pursuance of which, members of thepublic are invited or permitted to invest money or otherassets in a portfolio, and which scheme has the followingcharacteristics –

(a) two or more investors contribute money orother assets to hold a participatory interest in aportfolio of the scheme through shares, units orany other form of participatory interest; and

(b) the investors share the risk and the benefit ofinvestment in proportion to their participatoryinterest in a portfolio of a scheme or on anyother basis determined in the deed;

“court” means the ordinary courts in Belize where civil orcriminal proceedings may be instituted, unless otherwisespecified;

“credit union” means a credit union registered under therelevant law with specific powers to promote thrift, enterpriseand cooperative principles among its members, to poolfinancial resources of its members and to provide neededlending, investment and other financial services to them;

“currency” means the coin and paper money of Belize or ofa foreign country that is designated as legal tender and whichis customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchangein the country of issue;

“customer” means a person or entity purchasing or using aservice or commodity and includes an applicant for theservices of a business and a client;


“Director” means the Director of the Financial IntelligenceUnit appointed pursuant to section 4 of the FinancialIntelligence Unit Act;

“document” means any record of information and includes–

(a) anything on which there is writing;

(b) anything on which there are marks, figures,symbols, or perforations having meaning forpersons qualified to interpret them;

(c) anything from which sounds, images or writingcan be produced, with or without the aid ofanything else;

(d) a map, plan, drawing, photograph or similarthing;

“dollar” means dollar in Belize currency, unless otherwisespecified;

“financial institution” means a bank or financial institutionas defined in the Banks and Financial Institutions Act or theInternational Banking Act, and includes brokerage firmsand insurance companies;

“Financial Intelligence Unit” or “FIU” means the FinancialIntelligence Unit established pursuant to section 3 of theFinancial Intelligence Unit Act;

“forfeiture” means the permanent deprivation of propertyby order of a court or other competent authority;

“freezing” means temporarily prohibiting the transfer,conversion, disposition or movement of property ortemporarily assuming custody or control of property on thebasis of an order issued by a court or other competentauthority;

No. 35/ 2002.


CAP. 263.

No. 35/ 2002.

CAP. 267.

“gift” includes any transfer of property by a person toanother person directly or indirectly –

(a) after the commission of a serious crime by thefirst person; and

(b) for a consideration the value of which is sig-nificantly less than the value of the consider-ation provided by the first person; and

(c) to the extent of the difference between themarket value of the property transferred andthe consideration provided by the transferee.

“Government” means the Government of Belize;

“identification record” means any reliable and independentsource documents, data or information or other evidence asis reasonably capable of establishing the true identity andverifying the identity of the applicant of a reporting entity,including a valid driving licence, a social security card, avalid passport and in the case of a body corporate, acertified copy of the Memorandum and Articles ofAssociation, a certificate of incorporation together with thelatest annual return to the Registrar-General or othercompetent authority;

“instrumentality” means something that is used, or intendedfor use, in any manner in the commission of a moneylaundering or terrorist financing offence;

“insurance business” means the assumption of theobligations of an insurer in any class of insurance businessand includes reinsurance business;

“interest” in relation to property, means –


(a) a legal or equitable interest in the property;

(b) a right, power or privilege in connection withthe property;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Finance;

“money laundering” means conduct which constitutes anoffence as described under section 3;

“person” means a natural person or a legal person andincludes, among others, a corporation, partnership, trust orestate, joint stock company, association, syndicate, jointventure, or other unincorporated organization or group,capable of acquiring rights or entering into obligations;

“politically exposed person” means any individual who isor has been entrusted with prominent public functions inBelize or in another country or territory, including Heads ofState or of government, senior politicians, senior government,judicial or military officials, senior executives of state ownedcorporations, important political party officials includingfamily members or close associates of the politically exposedperson;

“proceedings” means any procedure conducted by or underthe supervision of a judge, magistrate or other competentauthority, however described, in relation to any alleged orproven offence, or property derived from such an offence,and includes an inquiry, investigation, preliminary or finaldetermination of facts;

“proceeds of crime” means any property derived, obtainedor realized, directly or indirectly, as a result of or inconnection with a serious crime and includes, on aproportional basis, property into which any property derivedor realized directly from such offence was later converted,transformed or intermingled, as well as income, capital or


other economic gains derived or realised from such propertyat any time since the crime;

“property” or “funds” includes money, investments,holdings, possessions and assets of every kind, whethercorporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, legaldocuments or instruments evidencing title, or interest in suchassets, wherever situate (whether in Belize or elsewhere);

“property of or in the possession or control of anyperson” includes any gift made to that person;

“realizable property” means –

(a) any property held by an accused;

(b) any property possessed by a person to whom anaccused has directly or indirectly made a gift asdefined in this Act;

“reporting entity” shall mean any person whose regularoccupation or business is the carrying on of –

(a) any activity listed in the First Schedule to thisAct;

(b) any other activity defined by the Minister assuch by an Order published in the Gazette;

“serious crime” means an offence against a provision of –

(a) any law in Belize, for which the maximumpenalty is death or imprisonment for life orother deprivation of liberty for a period exceed-ing 24 months; or

(b) a law of a foreign state, in relation to acts oromissions which, had they occurred in Belize,

FirstSchedule.


would have constituted an offence for whichthe maximum penalty is death, or imprison-ment for life or other deprivation of liberty fora period exceeding 24 months,

and includes an offence listed in the Second Schedule to thisAct regardless of penalty;

“supervisory authority” means the authority set out incolumn 2 of the Third Schedule who has compliance oversightover the reporting entity set out in column 1 of that Schedule.

“tainted property” means (i) property intended for use in,or used in or in connection with the commission of a seriouscrime; or (ii) proceeds of crime;

“terrorism” or “terrorist act” means:

(a) an act or omission, whether committed in oroutside Belize, which constitutes an offencewithin the scope of a counter terrorism conven-tion listed in the Fourth Schedule to this Act; or

(b) an act, or threat of action in or outside Belizewhich:

(i) involves serious bodily harm to a person;

(ii) involves serious damage to property;

(iii) endangers a person’s life;

(iv) creates a serious risk to the health orsafety of the public or a section of thepublic;

(v) involves the use of firearms or explo-sives;

SecondSchedule.

ThirdSchedule.

FourthSchedule.


(vi) involves releasing into the environmentor any part thereof or distributing or ex-posing the public or any part thereof to:

(a) any dangerous, hazardous,radioactive or harmful substance;

(b) any toxic chemical;

(c) any microbial or other biologicalagent or toxin;

(vii) is designed or intended to disrupt anycomputer system or the provision of ser-vices directly related to communicationsinfrastructure, banking or financial ser-vices, utilities, transportation or other es-sential infrastructure;

(viii) is designed or intended to disrupt theprovision of essential emergency servicessuch as police, civil defence or medicalservices;

(ix) involves prejudice to national security orpublic safety; or

(x) involves participating in the activities of aterrorist group, including the supplyingof information or material resources, orthe funding of its activities in any way,with knowledge of the fact that suchparticipation will contribute to the crimi-nal activities of the group;

and is intended, or by its nature and context, may reasonablybe regarded as being intended, to:


(a) intimidate the public or a section of the public;or

(b) cause panic among the public or a section of thepublic;

(c) cause indiscriminate harm or damage to per-sons or property;

(d) disrupt a meeting or procession or any gather-ing of persons;

(e) cause a public mischief or to commit a mischie-vous act;

(f) compel a government or an internationalorganisation to do, or refrain from doing, anyact; or

(g) destabilise or destroy the fundamental political,constitutional, economic or social structures ofa country or an international organization; or

(h) to advance or achieve a political, ideological,or religious cause;

but an act which is committed in pursuance of a protest,demonstration or stoppage of work shall be deemed not to beterrorism within the meaning of this definition, as long, andas long only, as the act is not intended to result in any harmto any person or damage to any property.

“terrorist” shall mean any natural person who:

(a) commits, or attempts to commit, terrorist actsby any means, directly or indirectly, unlaw-fully and wilfully;


(b) participates as an accomplice in terrorist acts;

(c) organizes or directs others to commit terroristsacts; or

(d) contributes to the commission of terrorist actsby a group of persons acting with a commonpurpose where the contribution is made inten-tionally and with the aim of furthering theterrorist act or with the knowledge of the inten-tion of the group to commit a terrorist act.

“terrorist financing” shall have the meaning given undersection 68 of this Act;

“terrorist group or organization” shall mean any group ofterrorists that:

(a) commits, or attempts to commit, terrorist actsby any means, directly or indirectly, unlaw-fully and wilfully;

(b) participates as an accomplice in terrorist acts;

(c) organizes or directs others to commit terroristacts; or

(d) contributes to the commission of terrorist actsby a group of persons acting with a commonpurpose where the contribution is made inten-tionally and with the aim of furthering theterrorist act or with the knowledge of the inten-tion of the group to commit a terrorist act;

“terrorist property” means –

(a) proceeds from the commission of terrorism;


(b) money or other property which has been, isbeing or is likely to be used to commit terror-ism; or

(c) money or other property which has been, isbeing, or is likely to be used by a terrorist groupor terrorist; or

(d) property owned or controlled by or on behalf ofa terrorist group; or

(e) property which has been collected for the pur-pose of providing support to a terrorist group orfunding a terrorist act;

“transaction” shall include:

(a) opening of an account;

(b) any deposit, withdrawal, exchange or transferof funds in any currency whether in cash or bycheque, payment order or other instrument orby electronic or other non physical means;

(c) the use of a safety deposit box or any other formof safe deposit;

(d) entering into any fiduciary relationship;

(e) any payment made or received in satisfaction,in whole or in part, of any contractual or otherlegal obligation;

(f) any payment made in respect of a lottery, bet orother game of chance;

(g) an act or combination of acts performed for oron behalf of a client in connection with pur-


chasing, using or performing one or more ser-vices, or

(h) such other actions as may be prescribed by theMinister by Order published in the Gazette;

“unit trust” means any arrangement made for the purposeor having the effect of providing, for a person having fundsavailable for investment, facilities for the participation by theperson as a beneficiary under a trust, in any profits or incomearising from the acquisition, holding, management or disposalof any property pursuant to the trust.

(2) The Minister may from time to time by Order pub-lished in the Gazette amend any of the Schedules to this Act.

(3) Knowledge, intent, purpose, belief or suspicionrequired as an element of any offence under this Act may beinferred from objective, factual circumstances.

(4) Any reference in this Act to a person being chargedor about to be charged with a serious crime is a reference toa procedure, however described, in Belize or elsewhere, bywhich criminal proceedings may be commenced.

(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be takento be convicted of a serious offence if –

(a) the person is convicted, whether summarily oron indictment, of the offence;

(b) the person is charged with, and found guilty of,the offence but is discharged without any con-viction being recorded;

(c) the court, with the consent of the convictedperson, takes the offence, of which the personhas not been found guilty, into account in

Schedules.

How to inferknowledge,etc.

Meaning ofcharge inrelation to aseriouscrime.

Meaning ofconviction inrelation to aseriouscrime.


passing sentence on the person for anotherserious offence.

(6) For the purposes of this Act, a person’s convictionfor a serious crime shall be taken to be quashed in any case–

(a) where subsection 5 (a) applies, if the convic-tion is quashed or set aside;

(b) where subsection 5 (b) applies, if the finding ofguilt is quashed or set aside;

(c) where subsection 5 (c) applies, if either –

(i) the person’s conviction for the other of-fence referred to in that section, is quashedor set aside; or

(ii) the decision of the court to take the of-fence into account in passing sentence forthat other offence is quashed or set aside;

(d) where the Governor-General, acting on theadvice of the Belize Advisory Council, grantsthe person a pardon in respect of the person’sconviction for the offence.

(7) For the purposes of this Act, dealing with propertyheld by any person includes, without prejudice to the gener-ality of the expression –

(a) where the property is a debt owed to thatperson, making a payment to any person inreduction or full settlement of the amount of thedebt;

(b) where the property is an interest in a partner-ship, doing anything to diminish the value ofthe partnership;

Meaning ofquashing ofconviction.

Meaning ofdealing withproperty.


(c) making or receiving a gift of the property; or

(d) removing the property from Belize.

(8) In this Act, a reference to a benefit derived orobtained by or otherwise accruing to a person includes areference to a benefit derived or obtained by, or otherwiseaccruing to, another person at the request or direction of thefirst person.

(9) For the purposes of this Act –

(a) a person has benefited from an offence if theperson has at any time received any payment orother reward in connection with, or derivedany pecuniary advantage from, the commis-sion of a serious offence, whether committedby that person or another person;

(b) a person’s proceeds of crime are any paymentsor other rewards received by the person inconnection with, and any pecuniary advantagederived by the person at any time from, thecommission of a serious crime; and

(c) the value of a person’s proceeds of crime is theaggregate of the values of the payments, re-wards or pecuniary advantages received byhim in connection with, or derived by himfrom, the commission of a serious crime.

(10) The powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit underthis Act are in addition to and not in derogation from thepowers of the FIU under the Financial Intelligence Unit Act,and the FIU may exercise all or any of such powers as theoccasion may require.

Meaning ofderiving abenefit.

Meaning ofbenefitingfrom theproceeds ofcrime.

Powers of theFIU under theFIU Act notaffected.

No. 35/2002.


PART II

Money Laundering and Terrorism Prohibited

3. (1) A person commits the offence of money laun-dering if the person knowing or having reasonable groundsto believe that any property in whole or in part, directly orindirectly, represents any person’s proceeds of crime:-

(a) converts or transfers that property for thepurpose of concealing or disguising theillicit origin of the property or of assistingany person who is involved in the com-mission of the crime to evade the legalconsequences of his action;

(b) conceals or disguises the true nature,source, location, disposition, movement,rights with respect to or ownership of thatproperty;

(c) acquires, possesses, uses or otherwisedeals with that property; or

(d) participates in, associates with or con-spires to commit, attempts to commit, oraids and abets, or facilitates, counsels orprocures the commission of any of theabove acts.

(2) For the purpose of proving a money launderingoffence under subsection (1), it shall not be necessary toprove which serious crime has been committed or whocommitted the crime.

4. A person guilty of an offence under the provisions ofsection 3 of this Act, shall be punishable on conviction,

Offence ofmoneylaundering.

Penalty formoneylaundering.


(i) in the case of a natural person, with a finewhich shall not be less than fifty thousanddollars but which may extend to two hundredand fifty thousand dollars, or with imprison-ment for a term which shall not be less than fiveyears but which may extend to ten years, orwith both such fine and term of imprisonment,and,

(ii) in the case of a legal person or other entity, witha fine which shall not be less than one hundredthousand dollars but which may extend to fivehundred thousand dollars.

5. A person who commits a terrorist act shall be guilty ofan offence and shall be punishable on conviction,

(i) in the case of a natural person, with imprison-ment for a term which shall not be less than tenyears but which may extend to imprisonmentfor life, and

(ii) in the case of a legal person or other entity, witha fine which shall not be less than five hundredthousand dollars but which may extend to onemillion dollars.

6. Where an offence under the provisions of sections 3,5 or 68 of this Act is committed by a body of persons,whether corporate or unincorporate, every person who, atthe time of the commission of the offence, acted in an officialcapacity for or on behalf of such body of persons, whetheras director, manager, secretary or other similar officer, orwas purporting to act in such capacity, shall be guilty of thatoffence and punished accordingly, unless he adduces evi-dence to show that the offence was committed without hisknowledge, consent or connivance.

Offence ofterrorism andpenalty.

Offencecommitted bya body ofpersons.


7. Any person who attempts or who aids, abets, coun-sels, or procures the commission of, or who conspires tocommit, the offence of money laundering or terrorism isguilty of an offence and shall be liable to the same penaltiesas prescribed for money laundering and terrorism in sections4 and 5 of this Act, as the case may be.

8. (1) It is an offence for a person who knows orsuspects that an investigation into money laundering, terror-ism or the proceeds of crime has been, is being, or is aboutto be, conducted, to divulge that fact or other information toanother whereby the investigation is likely to be prejudiced.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under subsection(1) above shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceed-ing fifty thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for a term notexceeding three years, or to both such fine and term ofimprisonment.

9. (1) It is an offence for a person to falsify, conceal,destroy or otherwise dispose of or cause or permit thefalsification, concealment, destruction or disposal of anydocument or material which is or likely to be relevant to aninvestigation into money laundering, terrorism or the pro-ceeds of crime or to any order made in accordance with theprovisions of this Act.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under subsection(1) above shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceed-ing one hundred thousand dollars or to imprisonment for aterm not exceeding five years, or to both such fine and termof imprisonment.

10. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary containedin any other law, the offences created by this Act shall beinvestigated, tried, judged and sentenced by a court in Belizeregardless of whether or not the serious offences occurred inBelize or in another territorial jurisdiction, but withoutprejudice to extradition where applicable in accordance withthe law.

Attemptsaiding andabettingconspiracy.

Tipping-off.

Falsification,concealment,etc., ofdocuments.

Extra-territorialjurisdiction.


PART III

Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Supervision

11. (1) Without prejudice to its powers and responsi-bilities under the Financial Intelligence Unit Act, the Finan-cial Intelligence Unit –

(a) shall receive, analyse and assess reports ofsuspicious transactions issued by reporting en-tities pursuant to section 17(4);

(b) shall take appropriate action as it may considernecessary or shall forward relevant informa-tion to the appropriate law enforcement au-thorities, if having considered a report or otherinformation, the Financial Intelligence Unithas reasonable grounds to suspect that thetransaction involves proceeds of crime or ter-rorist financing;

(c) shall send to the appropriate law enforcementauthorities, any information derived from theexamination or supervision of a reporting en-tity, if it gives the Financial Intelligence Unitreasonable grounds to suspect that a transac-tion involves proceeds of crime or terroristfinancing;

(d) may instruct any reporting entity to take suchsteps as may be appropriate, including thefreezing of funds and other financial assets oreconomic resources of any person or entity, tofacilitate any investigation, prosecution or pro-ceeding for a money laundering offence or forterrorist financing, whether in Belize or else-where;

Powers of theFinancialIntelligenceUnit.No. 35/2002


(e) shall compile statistics and records, dissemi-nate information within Belize or elsewhere asprovided by law, make recommendations aris-ing out of any information received, issue guide-lines to reporting entities and advise the Minis-ter accordingly;

(f) may conduct research into trends and develop-ments in the area of money laundering andfinancing of terrorism and improved ways ofdetecting, preventing and deterring money laun-dering and terrorist financing;

(g) may educate the public and create awarenesson matters relating to money laundering andterrorist financing;

(h) shall create training requirements and providesuch training for any reporting entity in respectof its identification, record-keeping and report-ing obligations provided for in sections 15, 16,17, 18 and 19 of this Act;

(i) may consult with any relevant person, institu-tion or organization for the purpose of exercis-ing its powers or duties under paragraph (d),(e), (f) or (g);

(j) is authorized to extend legal assistance toforeign jurisdictions with respect to propertytracking, monitoring and forfeiture orfreezing orders;

(k) shall have the authority to request informationfrom any reporting entities, supervisoryauthorities, law enforcement agencies and otherdomestic government agencies, for purposes ofthis Act without the need for agreements or


arrangements as required under subsection (1)(o);

(l) shall periodically provide feedback to report-ing entities, supervisory authorities and otherrelevant agencies;

(m) may disclose any report, any information de-rived from such report or any other informationit receives pursuant to this section to an institu-tion or agency of a foreign state or of aninternational organization established by thegovernments of foreign states that has powersand duties similar to those of the FinancialIntelligence Unit as set out in this section andsections 13 and 14 of this Act, or in the Finan-cial Intelligence Unit Act, if on the basis of itsanalysis and assessment, the Financial Intelli-gence Unit has reasonable grounds to suspectthat a report or information would be relevantto investigating proceeds of crime or investi-gating or prosecuting a serious crime;

(n) may disclose any report to the supervisoryauthority for purposes of ensuring compliancewith this Act;

(o) may enter into any agreements or arrangementswith any domestic government institution oragency regarding the exchange of information;

(p) shall, in respect of any reporting entity, exer-cise the powers set out in section 21 and inrelation to this, may enter the premises of anyreporting entity during ordinary business hoursto inspect any record kept by the reportingentity, and ask any question relating to suchrecord, make notes and take copies of whole orany part of the record.

No. 35/2002


(2) Every order made by the Financial IntelligenceUnit pursuant to paragraph (d) of subsection (1) above forthe freezing of funds or financial assets of any person shallcease to have effect after seven business days from themaking of the Order, unless within such period the FinancialIntelligence Unit makes an application to a Judge of theSupreme Court in Chambers for an order for the freezing ofsuch property, and the application shall be heard by theCourt as soon as practicable.

12. (1) Where the Financial Intelligence Unit has rea-sonable grounds for believing that the person by, for or onbehalf of whom any funds are held is or may be –

(a) a person who commits, attempts tocommit, facilitates or participates in thecommission of acts of terrorism, or whofinances such acts,

(b) a person controlled or owned directly orindirectly by a person in (a), or

(c) a person acting on behalf, or at the direc-tion, of a person in (a),

the Financial Intelligence Unit may by notice directthat those funds shall be frozen and shall not be madeavailable to any person.

(2) A direction given under subsection (1) aboveshall specify either –

(a) the period for which the direction is tohave effect; or

(b) that the direction is to have effect until itis revoked by notice under subsection (3)below.

Freezing offundsconnectedwithterrorism.


(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit may by noticerevoke a direction given under subsection (1) at any time.

(4) A notice under subsection (1) or (3) shall begiven in writing to the person holding the funds in question(“the recipient”), and shall require the recipient to send acopy of the notice without delay to the person whose fundsthey are, or for or on whose behalf they are held (“theowner”).

(5) A recipient shall be treated as complying withthat requirement if, without delay, he sends a copy of thenotice to the owner at his last-known address or, if he doesnot have an address for the owner; he makes arrangementsfor a copy of the notice to be supplied to the owner at the firstavailable opportunity.

(6) Where a direction has been given under sub-section (1) above, any person by, for or on behalf of whomthose funds are held may apply to the Supreme Court for thedirection to be set aside; and on such application the Courtmay set aside the direction.

(7) A person who makes an application undersubsection (6) above shall give a copy of the application andany witness statement or affidavit in support to the FinancialIntelligence Unit (and to any other person by, for or onbehalf of whom those funds are held), not later than sevendays before the date fixed for the hearing of the application.

(8) Any person who contravenes or fails to complywith the requirements of this section shall be guilty of amoney laundering offence and shall be liable to the penaltiesprescribed in section 4 of this Act.

13. The Financial Intelligence Unit may disclose anyreport or information as set out under section 11(1) (m) to aninstitution or agency of a foreign state or of an international


Disclosure toforeigninstitutionsand agencies.

organisation or body or other institution or agency estab-lished by the governments of foreign states that haspowers and duties similar to those of the FinancialIntelligence Unit –

(a) on such terms and conditions as are set out inthe agreement or arrangement between theFinancial Intelligence Unit and that foreignstate or international organisation regarding theexchange of such information under section14; or

(b) where such an agreement or arrangement hasnot been entered into between the FinancialIntelligence Unit and that foreign state or inter-national organisation or body, on such termsand conditions as may be agreed upon by theFinancial Intelligence Unit and the institutionor agency at the time of disclosure, where suchterms and conditions shall include the follow-ing –

(i) restriction on the use of the report orinformation to purposes relevant toinvestigating or prosecuting a seriouscrime, a money laundering offence,a terrorist financing offence or anoffence that is substantially similarto either offence; and

(ii) the stipulation that the report orinformation be treated in aconfidential manner and not befurther disclosed without theexpress consent of the FinancialIntelligence Unit.


14. (1) With the prior approval of the Minister, theFinancial Intelligence Unit may enter into an agreement orarrangement, formally or informally, with the governmentof a foreign state, or an international organisation or bodyestablished by the governments of foreign states regardingthe exchange of reports or information between the Finan-cial Intelligence Unit and any institution or agency of thatstate or organisation that has powers and duties similar tothose of the Financial Intelligence Unit.

(2) The information exchanged under subsection(1) shall be information that would be relevant to investigatingor prosecuting a serious crime or a money laundering orterrorist financing offence, or an offence that is substantiallysimilar to either offence.

(3) Agreements or arrangements entered into undersubsection (1) or (2) shall include the following:

(a) restriction on the use of information topurposes relevant to financial investiga-tions and to investigating or prosecuting aserious crime, or a money launderingoffence, or a terrorist financing offence,or an offence that is substantially similarto either offence; and

(b) the stipulation that the information betreated in a confidential manner and notbe further disclosed without the expressconsent of the Financial Intelligence Unit.

15. (1) Reporting entities shall establish the identityand verify the identity of any customer of the reporting entityby requiring the customer to produce an identification recordor such other reliable, independent source document as theMinister may prescribe.

Reportingentities toidentify andverify identityof customer.


Agreementsandarrangementsby theFinancialIntelligenceUnit.

(2) The requirements of subsection (1) shallapply when –

(a) a reporting entity establishes a businessrelationship;

(b) in the absence of such a relationship, areporting entity conducts –

(i) any transaction in an amount equalto or above the sum of fifteenthousand dollars or such otheramount as may from time to time beprescribed by the Minister, whetherconducted as a single transaction orseveral transactions that appear tobe linked and where the amount ofthe transaction is unknown at thetime of the transaction, theidentification and verification shallbe undertaken as soon as the amountbecomes known or the said thresholdis reached;

(ii) any wire transfers as set out in section19;

(c) there is a suspicion of money launderingor terrorist financing; or

(d) the reporting entity has doubts about theveracity or adequacy of previouslyobtained customer identification data.

(3) Without limiting the generality of subsection(1), a reporting entity shall –


(a) when establishing a business relation-ship, obtain information on the purposeand nature of the business relationship;

(b) if the transaction is conducted by anatural person, adequately identify andverify his identity including informationrelating to:

(i) the person’s name and address;

(ii) the national identity card, socialsecurity document, passport or otherapplicable official identifyingdocument;

(c) if the transaction is conducted by a legalentity, adequately identify the beneficialowner of such entity and take reasonablemeasures to identify and verify its owner-ship and control structure, including in-formation relating to:

(i) the customer’s name, legal form,head office address and identities ofdirectors;

(ii) the principal owners andbeneficiaries and control structure;

(iii) provisions regulating the power tobind the entity; and to verify thatany person purporting to act onbehalf of the customer is soauthorised, and identify thosepersons;

(d) have appropriate risk managementsystems to determine if a customer or


beneficial owner is a politically exposedperson, and if so, shall –

(i) adequately identify and verify hisidentity as set out in this section;

(ii) obtain the approval of seniormanagement before establishing abusiness relationship with thepolitically exposed person;

(iii) take reasonable measures toestablish the source of funds andsource of property; and

(iv) conduct regular enhancedmonitoring of the businessrelationship.

(4) If it appears to a reporting entity that an appli-cant requesting it to enter into any business relationship ortransaction, whether or not in the course of a continuingbusiness relationship, is acting on behalf of another person,the reporting entity shall establish the true identity of anyperson on whose behalf or for whose ultimate benefit theapplicant may be acting in the proposed transaction, whetheras a trustee, nominee, agent or otherwise.

(5) Nothing in this section shall require the produc-tion of any evidence of identity where –

(a) the customer is itself a financial institutionto which this Act applies and which hasbeen licensed or registered, and issupervised for anti-money laundering andcountering the financing of terrorismmeasures by a regulatory authority andthe reporting entity has satisfied itself as


to the adequacy of the measures to preventmoney laundering and the financing ofterrorism; or

(b) there is a transaction or a series oftransactions taking place in the course ofa business relationship, in respect of whichthe applicant has already producedsatisfactory evidence of identity.

(6) (a) A bank or a financial institution shall, inrelation to its cross-border correspondentbanking and other similar relationships –

(i) adequately identify and verifyrespondent institutions with whomit conducts such a businessrelationship;

(ii) gather sufficient information aboutthe nature of the business of theperson or entity;

(iii) determine from publicly availableinformation the reputation of theperson or entity and the quality ofsupervision to which the person orentity is subject to;

(iv) assess the person’s or entity’s anti-money laundering and terroristfinancing controls;

(v) obtain approval from seniormanagement before establishing anew correspondent relationship;

(vi) document the responsibilities of thefinancial institution and the personor entity.


(b) Where the relationship is a payable-through account, a bank or a financialinstitution shall ensure that the person orentity with whom it has established therelationship–

(i) has verified the identity of andperformed on-going due diligenceon such of that person’s customersthat have direct access to accountsof the financial institution; and

(ii) is able to provide the relevantcustomer identification data uponrequest to the financial institution.

(c) Banks or financial institutions shall notmaintain any business relationship withbanks that do not maintain a physicalpresence under the laws of which theywere established, unless they are part of afinancial group subject to effective con-solidated supervision.

(7) Where a reporting entity relies on anintermediary or third party to undertake its obligations undersubsections (1), (2) or (3) or to introduce business to it –

(a) it must be satisfied that the third party isable to provide copies of identificationdata and other documents relating to theobligation of due diligence under subsec-tions (1), (2) and (3) without delay;

(b) it shall satisfy itself that the third party orintermediary is regulated and supervised,and has measures in place to comply withthe requirements set out in sections 15and 16 of this Act.


(8) The Minister may, in consultation with therelevant supervisory authority, prescribe –

(a) the official or identifying documents, orthe reliable and independent source docu-ments, data or information or other evi-dence that is required for identification orverification of any class of customers orapplicants;

(b) threshold amounts and additional circum-stances in which the provisions of thissection shall apply.

(9) In the case of an existing customer at the timeof this Act coming into force –

(a) a reporting entity shall verify the identityof the customer within six months fromthe date of commencement of this Act;

(b) the Financial Intelligence Unit may, inspecial circumstances, extend the saidperiod of six months for a further periodof up to six months;

(c) where at the end of the six months orfurther period of up to six months, as thecase may be, a reporting entity is unableto verify the identity of a customer, thereporting entity shall terminate thebusiness relationship with such a customer.

16. (1) Reporting entities shall establish and main-tain –

(a) records of all transactions in accordancewith the requirements of subsection (3);

Otherobligations ofreportingentities.


(b) where evidence of a person’s identity isobtained in accordance with section 15, arecord that indicates the nature of theevidence obtained, and which compriseseither a copy of the evidence or suchinformation as would enable a copy of itto be obtained;

(c) account files and business correspondencein relation to accounts;

(d) written reports established in accordancewith section 17 of this Act.

(2) Customer accounts of a reporting entity shallbe kept in the true name of the account holder.

(3) Records required under subsection (1) shallcontain particulars sufficient to identify –

(a) the name, address and occupation or,where appropriate, business or principalactivity of each person –

(i) conducting the transaction; or

(ii) if known, on whose behalf thetransaction is being conducted,

as well as the method used by the report-ing entity to verify the identity of eachsuch person;

(b) the nature and date of the transaction;

(c) the type and amount of currency involved;

(d) the type and identifying number of anyaccount with the reporting entity involvedin the transaction;


(e) if the transaction involves a negotiableinstrument other than currency, the nameof the drawer of the instrument, the nameof the institution on which it was drawn,the name of the payee, if any, the amountand date of the instrument, the number, ifany, of the instrument and details of anyendorsements appearing on the instru-ment;

(f) in the case of reports under section 17 andany other reports, the name and addressof the reporting entity, and of the officer,employee or agent of the reporting entitywho prepared the report.

(4) Records required under subsection (1) shall bekept by the reporting entity for a period of at least 5 yearsfrom the date the relevant business or transaction wascompleted, or termination of business relationship, which-ever is the later.

(5) A reporting entity shall –

(a) comply with any instruction issued to itby the Financial Intelligence Unit pursu-ant to section 11 (1) (d);

(b) permit any authorized officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit to enter intoany premises of the reporting entity duringnormal working hours and inspect therecords kept pursuant to the provisions ofsubsection (1) of this section and makeany notes or take any copies of the wholeor any part of any such record and shallanswer any questions of the FinancialIntelligence Unit in relation to suchrecords;


(c) comply with the guidelines and trainingrequirements issued and provided by theFinancial Intelligence Unit in accordancewith paragraph (e) or (h) of section 11 (1).

(6) The requirements set forth in subsections (1),(3) and (4) of this section shall apply in the case of casinosor licensed gaming premises only when a customer engagesin a transaction equal to or above the amount of ten thousanddollars, Belize currency (or its equivalent in foreign currency)or such other sums as may from time to time be prescribed bythe Minister.

(7) Every reporting entity that contravenes or failsto comply with the provisions of this section shall be liableto a fine of up to five thousand dollars by the FinancialIntelligence Unit.

(8) A reporting entity aggrieved by the decision ofthe Financial Intelligence Unit pursuant to subsection (7)above may appeal to the Supreme Court under the provisionsof Part X of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, and forthis purpose, the Financial Intelligence Unit shall be deemedto be an inferior court and the rules governing the inferiorcourt appeals shall mutatis mutandis apply to every suchappeal:

Provided that an appeal shall not by itself result in thesuspension of the decision under appeal, but the appellantmay, within the time prescribed for filing such appeal, applyto the Supreme Court for stay of execution of the orderappealed from, pending the determination of such appeal.

17. (1) Reporting entities shall pay special attention to:

(a) all complex, unusual or large businesstransactions, or unusual patterns oftransactions, whether completed or not,


CAP. 91

Reporting ofsuspicioustransactionsby reportingentities.

and to insignificant but periodictransactions, that have no apparenteconomic or lawful purpose;

(b) business relations and transactions withpersons including legal persons andarrangements, from or in jurisdictions thatdo not have adequate systems in place toprevent or deter money laundering orterrorist financing;

(c) electronic funds transfer that do not con-tain complete originator information.

(2) In relation to subsection (1), a reporting entityshall:

(a) set forth in writing the specific informationregarding the transaction(s) or businessrelations specified in subsection (1) (a) to(c) of this section, its background andpurpose to the extent known, and theidentity of the persons involved; and

(b) upon request, shall make available suchfindings to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

(3) A reporting entity shall monitor its businessrelationships and the transactions undertaken throughout thecourse of the relationship to ensure that its obligations undersection 15 are met and that the transactions conducted areconsistent with the information that the reporting entity hasof its customer and the profile of the customer’s business.

(4) Whenever a reporting entity suspects or hasreasonable grounds to suspect that any transaction, pro-posed transaction or attempted transaction is related to thecommission of a money laundering offence or terrorist


financing offence or is related or linked to, or is to be usedin connection with a terrorist act or for the financing ofterrorism, or that the funds or property are the proceeds ofcrime, it shall as soon as possible but not later than 3 daysafter forming that suspicion and wherever possible beforethe transaction is carried out –

(a) take reasonable measures to ascertain thepurpose of the transaction, the origin andultimate destination of the funds involvedand the identity and address, of any ulti-mate beneficiary;

(b) prepare a report of the transaction in ac-cordance with subsection (5) and sendthe report to the Financial IntelligenceUnit in such form as the Director, mayfrom time to time, approve;

(c) in case of reporting entities which aredealers in precious metals and dealers inprecious stones and other dealers in highvalue goods, shall report any transactionsto the Financial Intelligence Unit inaccordance with this subsection wheneverthey engage in any cash transaction equalto or above the equivalent of fifteenthousand dollars or such other sum asmay from time to time be prescribed bythe Minister;

(d) in case of reporting entities which are realestate agents and dealers in vehicles, shallreport transactions in accordance withthis subsection to the Financial Intelli-gence Unit when involved in transactionsfor their clients concerning the buying or


selling of real estate or vehicles of anydescription.

(5) A report required under subsection (4) shall –

(a) set forth all particulars known regardingthe transaction;

(b) contain a statement of the grounds onwhich the reporting entity holds thesuspicion; and

(c) be signed or otherwise authenticated bythe reporting entity.

(6) A reporting entity which has reported a suspi-cious transaction in accordance with this section shall, ifrequested to do so by the Financial Intelligence Unit, givesuch further information as requested by the Financial Intel-ligence Unit.

(7) (a) If the Financial Intelligence Unit, afterconsulting the entity that reported the transaction required tomake a report under subsection (4), suspects or has reasonablegrounds to suspect that a transaction or a proposed transactionmay involve the proceeds of crime or a money laundering orterrorist financing offence or is related or linked to, or is tobe used in connection with a terrorist act or for the financingof terrorism, it may direct the reporting entity in writing,electronically or by telephone to be followed up in writing,not to proceed with the carrying out of that transaction orproposed transaction or any other transaction in respect ofthe funds affected by that transaction or proposed transactionfor a period as may be determined by the Financial IntelligenceUnit which may not be more than five days, in order to allowthe Financial Intelligence Unit –

(i) to make necessary inquiriesconcerning the transaction; and


(ii) if the Financial Intelligence Unitdeems it appropriate, to inform andadvise a supervisory authority.

(b) For the purposes of calculating the periodof five days referred to in subsection (7)(a), Saturdays, Sundays and public andbank holidays shall not be taken intoaccount.

(8) The provisions of subsections (4), (5), (6) and(7) are applicable to:

(a) lawyers, notaries, other independent legalprofessionals and accountants when, onbehalf of or for a client, they prepare foror engage in or carry out a transaction inrelation to the following activities:

(i) buying and selling of real estate;

(ii) managing of client money, securitiesor other assets;

(iii) management of bank, savings orsecurities accounts;

(iv) organisation of contributions for thecreation, operation or managementof companies;

(v) creation, operation or managementof legal persons or arrangements,and buying and selling of businessentities;

(b) trust and company service providers,when they prepare for or engage in or


carry out a transaction for or on behalf ofa client, in relation to the following activi-ties:

(i) acting as a formation agent of legalpersons;

(ii) acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a director orsecretary of a company, a partner ofa partnership, or a similar positionin relation to other legal persons;

(iii) providing a registered office,business address or accommodation,correspondence or administrativeaddress for a company, a partnershipor any other legal person orarrangement;

(iv) acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a trustee of anexpress trust;

(v) acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a nomineeshareholder for another person.

(9) Nothing in this section requires any lawyer todisclose any privileged communication.

(10) For the purposes of this section, a communica-tion is a privileged communication only if:

(a) it is to a person who is a professional legaladviser and the disclosure falls withinsubsection (b).


(b) A disclosure falls within this subsection ifit is a disclosure -

(i) by or by a representative of a clientof the professional legal adviser inthe course of ascertaining the legalposition of the client;

(ii) from or through a client in connectionwith the performing by the legaladviser of the task of defending orrepresenting that client in, orconcerning judicial, administrative,arbitration or mediation proceedings:

Provided that a disclosure does not fallwithin subsection (b) if it is made with theintention of furthering a criminal pur-pose.

(11) Any person who knows or suspects that areport under this section is being prepared for or will be orhas been sent to the Financial Intelligence Unit or anyadditional information requested by the Financial Intelli-gence Unit has been prepared or sent shall not disclose toanother person, other than a court, supervisory authority orother person authorized by law, any information or othermatter in relation to the report. This shall not precludedisclosures or communications regarding suspicions of moneylaundering or financing of terrorism between and amongdirectors, partners, officers, principals, and employees of thereporting entity and appropriate competent authorities.

(12) No criminal, civil, disciplinary or administrativeproceedings for breach of banking or professional secrecy orcontract may be instituted against the reporting entity, or itsdirectors, principals, officers, partners or employees who ingood faith submit reports or provide information in


accordance with the provisions of this section. No criminalaction for money laundering or financing of terrorism shallbe brought against a reporting entity, or its directors,principals, officers, partners or employees in connectionwith the execution of a suspicious transaction where suchentity or person complied with the provisions of this section.

(13) Without prejudice to any criminal and/or civilliabilities for offences connected to money laundering orterrorist financing, a reporting entity, and its directors,officers and employees, that fail to comply with the require-ments of this section or who wilfully make a false or untruereport referred to above, shall be liable to a fine not exceed-ing fifty thousand dollars by the Financial Intelligence Unitand, in addition, the licence of such reporting entity tooperate as such may be suspended or revoked by the licens-ing authority.

(14) A reporting entity or its directors, officers oremployees aggrieved by the decision of the FinancialIntelligence Unit pursuant to subsection (13) above mayappeal to the Supreme Court under the provisions of Part Xof the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, and for this purpose,the Financial Intelligence Unit shall be deemed to be aninferior court and the rules governing the inferior courtappeals shall mutatis mutandis apply to every such appeal:


(15) The question whether a suspicion for the pur-pose of this section has been formed shall be determinedobjectively having regard to all the facts and surroundingcircumstances.


Cap. 91

18. (1) A reporting entity shall:

(a) appoint a compliance officer who shall beresponsible for ensuring the reportingentity’s compliance with the requirementsof this Act;

(b) establish and maintain internal policies,procedures, controls and systems to:

(i) implement the customeridentification requirements;

(ii) implement record keeping andretention requirements;

(iii) implement the monitoringrequirements;

(iv) implement the reportingrequirements under section 17;

(v) make its officers and employeesaware of the laws relating tocombating money laundering andfinancing of terrorism;

(vi) make its officers and employeesaware of the procedures and policiesadopted by it to deter moneylaundering and the financing ofterrorism; and

(vii) screen persons before hiring themas employees;

(c) establish an audit function to test its anti-money laundering and combating the


Reportingentity toappoint acomplianceofficer andestablishprocedures,etc.

financing of terrorism procedures andsystems; and

(d) train its officers, employees and agents torecognize suspicious transactions.

(2) A reporting entity shall:

(a) enable any person identified in accordancewith subsection (1) (a) to have reasonableaccess to information that may be relevantto determining whether sufficient basisexists to report the matter pursuant tosection 17; and

(b) require the identified person to report thematter, pursuant to section 17, in theevent that he determines that sufficientbasis exists.

(3) The person identified in subsection (1) (a)shall:

(a) be a senior officer with relevant qualifica-tions and experience to enable him torespond sufficiently well to inquiries re-lating to the reporting entity and the con-duct of its business;

(b) be responsible for establishing and main-taining such manual of compliance pro-cedures in relation to its business as theFinancial Intelligence Unit may, fromtime to time, require;

(c) be responsible for ensuring complianceby staff of the reporting entity with –


(i) this Act and any other law relatingto money laundering or terroristfinancing; and

(ii) any manual of complianceprocedures established; and

(d) act as the liaison between the reportingentity and the Financial Intelligence Unitin matters relating to compliance with thisAct and any other law or directive withrespect to money laundering or terroristfinancing.

(4) Subsections (1) (a) and (2) do not apply to anindividual who, in the course of carrying on his business,does not employ or act in association with any other person,or if all their staff and management consists of less than fivepersons.

19. (1) An institution or a person that is licensed to dobusiness in Belize as a bank or financial institution under theBanks and Financial Institutions Act or the InternationalBanking Act or a money transmission service provider shallverify, maintain and include accurate originator informationon outgoing electronic funds transfers and related outgoingmessages. Such institutions and persons when acting as anintermediary financial institution shall ensure that all origi-nator information that accompanies the wire transfer isretained with the transfer.

(2) Originator information shall include name, placewhere account exists and account number (or in the absenceof an account number, a unique reference number). Suchinformation shall be set forth in the message or payment formaccompanying the transfer.

(3) Subsection (1) shall not apply to an electronicfunds transfer from a transaction carried out using a credit or


Financialinstitutionsand moneytransmissionserviceproviders toincludeoriginatorinformation.

Cap. 263Cap. 267

debit card if the credit or debit card number accompaniessuch transaction, unless the debit or credit card is used as apayment system to effect a money transfer in which casesubsection (1) is applicable.

(4) Subsection (1) shall not apply to electronicfunds transfers and settlements between financial institu-tions where the originator and beneficiary of the fundstransfer are the financial institutions acting on their ownbehalf.

(5) Every person or entity that contravenes or failsto comply with the provisions of this section shall be liableto a fine of up to ten thousand dollars by the FinancialIntelligence Unit.

(6) A person or entity aggrieved by the decision ofthe Financial Intelligence Unit pursuant to subsection (5)above may appeal to the Supreme Court under the provisionsof Part X of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, and forthis purpose, the Financial Intelligence Unit shall be deemedto be an inferior court and the rules governing the inferiorcourt appeals shall mutatis mutandis apply to every suchappeal:


20. Without prejudice to its powers under the FinancialIntelligence Unit Act, the FIU or a law enforcement agency,upon application to a Judge of the Supreme Court in Cham-bers ex parte and satisfying him that there are reasonablegrounds to believe that –


CAP. 91

FIU’s powerto obtainsearchwarrants.No. 35/2002.

(a) a reporting entity has failed to establishand maintain records as provided by sec-tion 16;

(b) a reporting entity has failed to report anybusiness transaction as provided by theprovisions of section 17 (4); or

(c) an officer or employee of a reportingentity is committing, has committed or isabout to commit a money laundering or aterrorist financing offence,

may obtain a warrant to enter any premises belonging to, inthe possession or under the control of the financial institutionor any officer or employee of such institution and to searchthe premises and remove any document, material or otherthing therein for the purposes of the Financial IntelligenceUnit or law enforcement agency as ordered by the Judge andspecified in the warrant.

21. (1) The supervisory authority responsible forsupervising each reporting entity shall supervise complianceby the entity with the requirements of sections 15, 16, 17, 18and 19 of this Act.

(2) In accordance with the law, the supervisoryauthority, shall:

(a) examine and supervise the reporting en-tity, and regulate and oversee effectivecompliance with the obligations set out insections 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of this Actand any other preventative measures inrelation to combating money launderingand terrorist financing, through on-siteexaminations, or other means;


Role ofsupervisoryauthority.

(b) issue instructions, guidelines orrecommendations to assist the reportingentity to comply with the obligations setforth in this Act;

(c) develop standards and/or criteriaapplicable to the reporting of suspiciousactivities that reflect other existing andfuture pertinent national andinternationally accepted standards;

(d) impose requirements that the reportingentity should ensure that their foreignbranches and subsidiaries adopt andenforce measures consistent with this lawto the extent that local laws and regulationsso permit, and where the foreign branchor subsidiary is unable to adopt andobserve these measures, to report thematter to the designated supervisory orregulatory authority or the competentdisciplinary authority;

(e) submit a report to the FinancialIntelligence Unit, as soon as practicablebut no later than three working days, anyinformation concerning suspicioustransactions, activities or facts that couldbe related to money laundering, thefinancing of terrorism or the proceeds ofcrime;

(f) cooperate with agencies performing simi-lar functions in other countries includingexchange of information;

(g) maintain statistics concerning measuresadopted and sanctions imposed in thecontext of enforcing this Act;


(h) adopt the necessary measures to establishfit and proper criteria for owning,controlling, or participating, directly orindirectly, in the directorship, managementor operation of a financial institution or acasino or other gaming establishment.

22. (1) Any supervisory or regulatory authority orcompetent disciplinary authority that discovers a breach ofthe obligations established under sections 15, 16, 17, 18 and19 of this Act by a reporting entity it supervises may imposeone or more of the following sanctions and measures aftergiving the reporting entity a reasonable opportunity to makerepresentations on its own behalf:-

(a) written warnings;

(b) order to comply with specific instruc-tions;

(c) ordering regular reports from the report-ing entity on the measures it is taking;

(d) fine in an amount no less than fivethousand dollars and no greater thantwenty thousand dollars;

(e) barring convicted individuals from em-ployment within the sector;

(f) replacing or restricting the powers ofmanagers, directors or controlling own-ers, including the appointing of ad hocadministrator; or

(g) recommending to the appropriatelicensing authority of the reporting entitythat the reporting entity’s licence besuspended, restricted or withdrawn.


Sanctions bysupervisoryauthorities.

(2) The supervisory authority shall inform the Fi-nancial Intelligence Unit as to the sanctions imposed andmay order the publication of its decision.

(3) Any supervisory or regulatory authority or thecompetent disciplinary authority that discovers facts likelyto constitute indication of money laundering or financing ofterrorism shall so inform the Financial Intelligence Unit.

23. (1) Where a person is being investigated for aserious offence, or has been charged with or convicted of aserious crime, or where the Financial Intelligence Unit or alaw enforcement authority is endeavouring to trace terroristproperty or funds or other property related to a serious crime,and a police officer or an authorised officer of the FinancialIntelligence Unit has reasonable grounds for suspecting thatany person has possession or control of –

(a) a document relevant to identifying,locating or quantifying property of theperson or to identifying or locating adocument necessary for the transfer ofproperty of such person; or

(b) a document relevant to identifying,locating or quantifying tainted propertyin relation to the offence or to identifyingor locating a document necessary for thetransfer of tainted property in relation tothe offence; or

(c) a document relevant to identifying,locating or quantifying recoverableproperty or to identify or locating adocument related to the transfer of terroristproperty; or

(d) a document related to terrorist property,


Productionorders.

the police officer or an authorised officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit may apply ex parte and inwriting to a judge of the Supreme Court in chambersfor an order against the person suspected of havingpossession or control of a document of the kindreferred. The application shall be supported by anaffidavit.

(2) The judge may, if he considers there arereasonable grounds for so doing, make an order that theperson produce to a police officer or an authorized officer ofthe Financial Intelligence Unit, at a time and place specifiedin the order, any documents of the kind referred to insubsection (1).

(3) A police officer or an authorised officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit to whom documents are pro-duced may-

(a) inspect the documents;

(b) make copies of the documents; or

(c) retain the documents for so long as isreasonably necessary for the purposes ofthis Act.

(4) Where a police officer or an authorised officerof the Financial Intelligence Unit retains documents pro-duced to him, he shall make a copy of the documentsavailable to the person who produced them.

(5) Notwithstanding any other rule of law or prac-tice to the contrary, a person is not entitled to refuse toproduce documents ordered to be produced under this sec-tion on the ground that –

(a) the document might tend to incriminatethe person or make him liable to a penalty;or


(b) the production of the document would bein breach of an obligation of the personnot to disclose the existence or contentsof the document.

24. (1) Where a person produces a document pursuantto an order under this section, the production of the docu-ment, or any information, document or things obtained as adirect or indirect consequence of the production of thedocument is not admissible against that person in any crimi-nal proceedings except proceedings under section 25.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), proceed-ings on an application for a restraining order, a forfeitureorder or a pecuniary penalty order are not criminal proceed-ings.

25.(1) Where a person is required by a productionorder to produce a document to a police officer or anauthorised officer of the Financial Intelligence Unit, theperson commits an offence against this section if he –

(a) contravenes the order without reasonablecause; or

(b) in purported compliance with the order,produces or makes available a documentknown to the person to be false or mis-leading in a material particular and doesnot so indicate to the police officer or theauthorized officer of the FIU, and pro-vide to such officer any correct documentor information of which the person is inpossession,

and on conviction shall be liable,

(i) in the case of a natural person, to a fine notexceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprison-


Evidentialvalue ofinformation.

Failure tocomply with aproductionorder.

ment for a term not exceeding two years, or toboth such fine and imprisonment; and

(ii) in the case of a legal person or other entity, toa fine which shall be not less than fifty thou-sand dollars but which may extend to onehundred thousand dollars.

26. Where a foreign State requests assistance to locate orseize property suspected to be tainted property in respect ofan offence within its jurisdiction, the provisions of section23 shall apply with necessary modifications.

27. (1) A police officer or an authorized officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit may –

(a) enter upon land or upon or into premises;

(b) search the land or premises for any docu-ment of the type described in section23(1); and

(c) seize any document found in the courseof that search that the aforementionedofficer believes, on reasonable grounds,to be a relevant document in relation to aserious crime:

Provided that the entry, search and seizureis made with the consent of the occupierof the land or the premises, or under awarrant issued by a court under this Act.

(2) The powers contained in subsection (1) arewithout prejudice to the powers of the FIU under theFinancial Intelligence Unit Act.


Productionorders inrelation toforeignoffences.

Power tosearch forand seizedocumentsrelevant tolocatingproperty.

No. 35/2002

28. (1) Where –

(a) there are reasonable grounds to believethat a person has been charged with orconvicted of a serious crime, or is or willbe involved in the commission of a seriousoffense; or

(b) a police officer or an authorised officer ofthe Financial Intelligence Unit hasreasonable grounds for suspecting thatthere is, or may be within the next 72hours, upon any land or upon or in anypremises, a document in relation to theoffence or in relation to any taintedproperty, realizable property or terroristproperty,

the police officer or an authorised officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit may make an appli-cation supported by information on oath to amagistrate or a judge for a search warrant inrespect of that land or those premises.

(2) Where an application is made under subsection(1) for a warrant to search land or premises, the magistrate orjudge may, subject to subsection (4) issue a warrantauthorising a police officer or an authorised officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit (whether or not named in thewarrant), with such assistance and by such force as isnecessary and reasonable –

(a) to enter upon the land or in or upon anypremises and to search the land or premisesfor property of that kind; and

(b) to seize property found in the course ofthe search that the police officer or the


Searchwarrant forlocation ofdocumentsrelevant tolocatingproperty.

authorized officer of the Financial Intelli-gence Unit believes on reasonablegrounds to be property of that kind.

(3) A magistrate or judge shall not issue a warrantunder subsection (2) unless he is satisfied that –

(a) a production order has been given inrespect of the document and has not beencomplied with;

(b) a production order in respect of the docu-ment would be unlikely to be effective;

(c) the investigation for the purposes of whichthe search warrant is being sought mightbe seriously prejudiced if the police officeror an authorised officer of the FinancialIntelligence Unit does not gain immediateaccess to the document without any noticeto any person; or

(d) the document involved cannot beidentified or described with sufficientparticularity to enable a production orderto be obtained.

(4) A warrant issued under this section shallstate –

(a) the purpose for which it is issued,including a reference to the nature of therelevant offence;

(b) a description of the kind of documents orany tainted property, realizable propertyor terrorist property authorised to beseized;


(c) a time at which the warrant ceases to be inforce; and

(d) whether entry is authorised to be made atany time of the day or night or duringspecified hours.

(5) If during the course of searching under a warrantissued under this section, a police officer or an authorisedofficer of the Financial Intelligence Unit finds –

(a) a document that the police officer or anauthorised officer of the Financial Intelli-gence Unit believes on reasonablegrounds to relate to the relevant offenceor to another serious offence; or

(b) anything the police officer or an authorisedofficer of the Financial Intelligence Unitbelieves on reasonable grounds will affordevidence as to the commission of a criminaloffence,

the police officer or an authorised officer of the FinancialIntelligence Unit may seize that property or thing and thewarrant shall be deemed to authorise such seizure.

(6) The powers contained in this section are with-out prejudice to the powers of the FIU under the FinancialIntelligence Unit Act.

29. (1) A police officer or an authorized officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit may –

(a) search a person for tainted property orterrorist property;

(b) enter upon land or upon or into premisesand search the land or premises for taintedproperty or terrorist property; and


No. 35/2002.

Powers tosearch forand seizetaintedproperty orterroristproperty.

(c) in either case, seize any property found inthe course of the search that the policeofficer or the authorized officer believes,on reasonable grounds, to be taintedproperty or terrorist property, providedthat the search or seizure is made:

(i) with the consent of the person or theoccupier of the land or premises asthe case may be; or

(ii) under warrant issued under section30.

(2) Where a police officer or an authorized officerof the Financial Intelligence Unit may search a person underthis section, he may also search –

(a) the clothing that is being worn by theperson; and

(b) any property in, or apparently in, theperson’s immediate control.

30. (1) Where a police officer or an authorized officerof the Financial Intelligence Unit has reasonable grounds forsuspecting that there is, or may be within the next 72 hours,tainted property or terrorist property of a particular kind –

(a) on a person;

(b) in the clothing that is being worn by aperson;

(c) otherwise in a person’s immediate control;or

(d) upon land or upon or in any premises,

Searchwarrants inrelation totaintedproperty orterroristproperty.


the police officer or the authorized officer may lay before amagistrate an information setting out those grounds andapply for the issue of a warrant to search the person, the landor the premises as the case may be, for property of that kind.

(2) Where an application is made under subsection(1) for a warrant to search a person, land or premises, themagistrate may, subject to subsection (4), issue a warrantauthorizing a police officer or the authorized officer (whetheror not named in the warrant) with such assistance and bysuch force as is necessary and reasonable –

(a) to search the person for property of thatkind;

(b) to enter upon the land or in or upon anypremises and to search the land or premisesfor property of that kind; and

(c) to seize property found in the course ofthe search that the police officer or theauthorized officer believes on reasonablegrounds to be property of that kind.

(3) A magistrate shall not issue a warrant undersubsection (2) in respect of tainted property or terroristproperty unless the magistrate is satisfied that there arereasonable grounds to believe that a confiscation order maybe made under this Act in respect of the property.

(4) A warrant issued under this section shallstate –

(a) the purpose for which it is issuedincluding, in respect of tainted property, areference to the nature of the relevantoffence;

(b) a description of the kind of propertyauthorised to be seized;


(c) a time at which the warrant ceases to be inforce; and

(d) whether entry is authorised to be made atany time of the day or night or duringspecified hours.

(5) If during the course of searching under a warrantissued under this section, a police officer or the authorizedofficer finds –

(a) property that the police officer or theauthorized officer believes on reasonablegrounds to be tainted property or terroristproperty of a type not specified in thewarrant, or tainted property in relation toanother serious offence; or

(b) anything the police officer or the autho-rized officer believes on reasonablegrounds will afford evidence as to thecommission of a serious offence,

the police officer or the authorized officer may seize thatproperty or thing and the warrant shall be deemed to authorisesuch seizure.

31. Where a foreign State requests assistance to locate orseize property suspected to be tainted property in respect ofan offence within its jurisdiction, the provisions of sections28, 29 and 30 shall apply with necessary modifications.

32. (1) A police officer or an authorised officer of theFinancial Intelligence Unit may apply, ex parte and inwriting to a judge or magistrate in chambers for an order (inthis section called a monitoring order) directing a reportingentity to give information to a police officer or an authorisedofficer of the Financial Intelligence Unit. An applicationunder this subsection shall be supported by an affidavit.

Searchwarrants inrelation toforeignoffences.

Monitoringorders.


(2) A monitoring order shall –

(a) direct a reporting entity to discloseinformation obtained by the institutionabout transactions conducted through anaccount held by a particular person withthe institution;

(b) not have retrospective effect; and

(c) only apply for a period of a maximum of3 months from the date of the making ofthe order.

(3) A judge or magistrate shall not issue a monitor-ing order unless he is satisfied that there are reasonablegrounds for suspecting that the person in respect of whoseaccount the order is sought –

(a) has committed or was involved in thecommission, or is about to commit or beinvolved in the commission of, a seriouscrime; or

(b) has benefited directly or indirectly, or isabout to benefit directly or indirectly fromthe commission of a serious crime.

(4) A monitoring order shall specify –

(a) the name or names in which the accountis believed to be held; and

(b) the class of information that the institu-tion is required to give.

(5) Where a reporting entity, which has been givennotice of a monitoring order, knowingly –


(a) contravenes the order, or

(b) provides false or misleading informationin purported compliance with the order,

the reporting entity commits an offence against this sectionand shall be liable on conviction, in the case of a naturalperson, to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or toimprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to bothsuch fine and imprisonment; and in the case of a bodycorporate, to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand dollars.

33. (1) A reporting entity that is, or has been, subject toa monitoring order shall not disclose the existence or opera-tion of the order to any person except –

(a) an officer or agent of the reporting entityfor the purpose of ensuring compliancewith the order;

(b) a legal adviser for the purpose of obtaininglegal advice or representation in respectof the order; or

(c) a police officer or an authorised officer ofthe Financial Intelligence Unit authorisedin writing to receive the information.

(2) A person described in subsection (1) shall notdisclose the existence or operation of a monitoring orderexcept to another person described in that subsection andmay do so only for the purposes of the performance of theperson’s duties or functions.

(3) Nothing in this section prevents the disclosureof information concerning a monitoring order for the pur-poses of or in connection with legal proceedings or in thecourse of proceedings before a court, provided that nothingin this section shall be construed as requiring a legal adviser


Monitoringorders not tobe disclosed.

to disclose to any court the existence or operation of amonitoring order.

(4) A reporting entity or other person who contra-venes the provisions of subsections (1) or (2) above is guiltyof an offence and shall be liable on conviction, in the case ofa natural person, to a fine not exceeding five thousanddollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twoyears or to both such fine and term of imprisonment, and inthe case of a legal person or other entity, to a fine which shallnot be less than twenty thousand dollars but which mayextend to fifty thousand dollars.

34. (1) Without prejudice to the powers of the Ministerresponsible for telecommunications under the BelizeTelecommunications Act, a police officer or an authorizedofficer of the Financial Intelligence Unit may, for the purposeof obtaining evidence of the commission of a moneylaundering offence, a terrorist financing offence or theproceeds of crime under this Act, apply, ex parte, to a Judgeof the Supreme Court, for an interception of communicationsorder.

(2) A judge to whom an application is made undersubsection (1) may make an order –

(a) requiring a communications service pro-vider to intercept and retain a specifiedcommunication or communications of aspecified description received or trans-mitted, or about to be received or trans-mitted by that communications serviceprovider;

(b) authorising the police officer or theauthorized officer of the FinancialIntelligence Unit, to enter any premisesand to install on such premises, any device


Power tointerceptcommunicationsand theadmissibilityof interceptedcommunicationsNo. 16/2002.

for the interception and retention of aspecified communication orcommunications of a specified descriptionand to remove and retain such device,

if the judge is satisfied that there are reasonablegrounds to believe that material informationrelating to –

(i) the commission of an offence underthis Act, or

(ii) the whereabouts of the personsuspected by the police officer orthe Financial Intelligence Unit tohave committed the offence,

is contained in that communication or commu-nications of that description.

(3) Any information contained in a communica-tion –

(a) intercepted and retained pursuant to anorder under subsection (2);

(b) intercepted and retained in a foreign statein accordance with the law of that foreignstate and certified by a Judge of thatforeign state to have been so interceptedand retained,

shall be admissible in proceedings for a moneylaundering offence or terrorist financing offence orfor proceedings in relation to the forfeiture of theproceeds of crime or terrorist property under thisAct, as evidence of the truth of its contents notwith-standing the fact that it may contain hearsay.


35. (1) The Financial Intelligence Unit, upon applica-tion to a Judge of the Supreme Court and satisfying him thata financial institution has failed without reasonable excuseto comply in whole or in part with any obligation of report-ing entities under section 16 or subsection (4) of section 17,may obtain a mandatory injunction against any or all of theofficers or employees of that financial institution on suchterms as the Court deems necessary to enforce compliancewith such obligation.

(2) In granting an injunction pursuant to subsec-tion (1) of this section, the Court may order that should thefinancial institution or any officer or employee of thatinstitution fail without reasonable excuse to comply with allor any of the provisions of that injunction, such financialinstitution, officer or employee shall pay a financial penaltyin the sum and in the manner directed by the Court.

36. A person who has been convicted of a serious crime(whether in Belize or elsewhere) or of an offence under thisAct, may not be eligible or licensed to carry on the businessof a financial institution.

37. A person who enters or leaves Belize with more thanten thousand dollars in cash or negotiable instruments (in Belizecurrency or equivalent foreign currency) shall make a declara-tion regarding the existence and amount of the cash or, as thecase may be, negotiable instruments being carried by thatperson, to an authorised officer of the Financial IntelligenceUnit or to any other person or authority designated by theFinancial Intelligence Unit for that purpose, and every personwho fails to make such a declaration or makes a false declara-tion commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable onsummary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousanddollars.

38. (1) A police officer or a customs officer may seizeand, in accordance with this section, detain any currency whichis being imported into, or exported from Belize, if –

Othermeasures toavoid moneylaunderingand terroristfinancing.

Currencyreportingwhenentering orleavingBelize.

Seizure anddetention ofsuspiciousimports orexports ofcurrency.


Mandatoryinjunction toenforcecompliance.

(a) the amount is not less than ten thousanddollars in Belize currency (or equivalentforeign currency); and

(b) he has reasonable grounds for suspectingthat it is –

(i) property derived from a seriouscrime;

(ii) intended by any person for use inthe commission of a serious crime;

(iii) involved in money laundering orthe financing of terrorism; or

(iv) being brought into or taken out ofBelize without making thedeclaration required under section37 of this Act or after making a falsedeclaration.

(2) A police officer or a customs officer may requestfurther information from the person carrying the cash ornegotiable instruments.

(3) Currency detained under subsection (1) shallnot be detained for more than 72 hours after seizure, exclud-ing weekends and public and bank holidays unless a magis-trate orders its continued detention for a period not exceed-ing 3 months from the date of seizure, upon being satisfiedthat –

(a) there are reasonable grounds for the sus-picion referred to in subsection (1)(b);and

(b) its continued detention is justified while –


(i) its origin or derivation is furtherinvestigated; or

(ii) consideration is given to institutingin Belize or elsewhere criminalproceedings against any person foran offence with which the currencyis connected.

(4) A magistrate may subsequently order continueddetention of the currency if satisfied of the matters mentionedin subsection (3), but total period of detention shall notexceed 2 years from the date of the order made under thatsubsection.

(5) Subject to subsection (4), currency detainedunder this section may be released in whole or in part to theperson on whose behalf it was imported or exported –

(a) by order of a magistrate that its continueddetention is no longer justified, uponapplication by or on behalf of that personand after considering any views of theDirector of the Financial Intelligence Unitto the contrary; or

(b) by an authorized officer, if satisfied thatits continued detention is no longer justi-fied.

(6) No currency detained under this section shallbe released where –

(a) an application is made under this Act forthe purpose of –

(i) the forfeiture of the whole or anypart of the currency; or


(ii) its restraint pending determinationof its liability to forfeiture; or

(b) proceedings are instituted in Belize or else-where against any person for an offence withwhich the currency is connected,

unless and until the proceedings relating to the relevantapplication or the proceedings for the offence as the casemay have been concluded.

(7) On being satisfied that the property representsthe proceeds of crime or property to be used in the commissionof a serious crime, the magistrate shall make a forfeitureorder.

PART IV

Freezing and Forfeiture of Assets in Relation toMoney Laundering and Terrorist Financing

39. (1) The Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit may apply to the Supreme Courtfor a restraining order against any realisable property held bythe accused or specified realisable property held by a personother than the accused.

(2) An application for a restraining order may bemade ex parte and shall be in writing and be accompanied byan affidavit stating –

(a) where the accused has been convicted ofa serious crime, the serious crime forwhich he was convicted, the date of theconviction, the court before which theconviction was obtained and whether anappeal has been lodged against the con-viction;

Applicationfor aRestrainingOrder.


(b) where the accused has not been convictedof a serious crime, the crime for which heis charged or about to be charged, or isbeing investigated and the grounds forbelieving that the defendant committedthe offence;

(c) a description of the property in respect ofwhich the restraining order is sought;

(d) the name and address of the person whois believed to be in possession of theproperty;

(e) the grounds for the belief that the propertyis tainted property in relation to the offenceor that the accused derived a benefitdirectly or indirectly from the commissionof the offence;

(f) where the application seeks a restrainingorder against property of a person otherthan the defendant, the grounds for thebelief that the property is tainted propertyin relation to the offence and is subject tothe effective control of the accused or is agift caught by this Act; and

(g) the grounds for the belief that a forfeitureorder or a pecuniary penalty order may beor is likely to be made under this part inrespect of the property.

40. (1) Subject to this section, where the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit appliesto the Court for a restraining order against property and theCourt is satisfied that –

Restrainingorders.


(a) the accused has been convicted of a seriouscrime or has been charged or is about tobe charged with or is being investigatedfor a serious crime;

(b) where the accused has not been convictedof a serious crime, there is reasonablecause to believe that the property is taintedproperty in relation to an offence or thatthe accused derived a benefit directly orindirectly from the commission of theoffence;

(c) where the application seeks a restrainingorder against property of a person otherthan the accused, there are reasonablegrounds for believing that the property istainted property in relation to an offenceand that the property is subject to theeffective control of the accused or isproperty held by the defendant or a giftcaught by this Act; and

(d) there are reasonable grounds for believingthat a forfeiture order or a pecuniarypenalty order may be or is likely to bemade under this part in respect of theproperty,

the Court may make an order –

(i) prohibiting the defendant or any personfrom disposing of, or otherwise dealingwith, the property or such part thereof orinterest therein as is specified in the order,except in such manner as may be speci-fied in the order; and


(ii) at the request of the Director of PublicProsecutions or the Financial IntelligenceUnit, where the Court is satisfied that thecircumstances so require –

(a) directing the Registrar-General orsuch other person as the Court mayappoint to take custody of theproperty or such part thereof as isspecified in the order and to manageor otherwise deal with all or anypart of the property in accordancewith the directions of the Court; and

(b) requiring any person havingpossession of the property to givepossession thereof to the Registrar-General or to the person appointedunder sub-paragraph (i) to takecustody and control of the property.

(2) An order under subsection (1) may be madesubject to such conditions as the Court thinks fit and, withoutlimiting the generality of this subsection, may make provisionfor meeting out of the property or a specified part of theproperty, any or all of the following:

(a) the person’s reasonable living expenses(including the reasonable living expensesof the person’s dependants, if any) andreasonable business expenses;

(b) the person’s reasonable expenses in de-fending the criminal charge and any pro-ceedings under this Part; and

(c) a specified debt incurred by the person ingood faith.


(3) Where the Registrar-General or other personappointed under subsection (1) (ii) (a) is given a direction inrelation to any property, he may apply to the Court fordirections on any question respecting the management orpreservation of the property under his control.

(4) Subject to section 42, an application shall beserved on all persons interested in the application or such ofthem as the Court thinks expedient and all such persons shallhave the right to appear at the hearing and be heard.

(5) When the application is made on the basis thata person is being investigated or about to be charged, anyorder made by the Court shall lapse if the person is notcharged –

(a) where the offence is an offence againstthe laws of Belize, within 28 days; or

(b) where the offence is an offence againstthe laws of a foreign State, within threemonths.

41. (1) Before making an order under section 40, theCourt may require the Government to give such undertakingsas the Court considers appropriate with respect to thepayment of damages or costs, or both, in relation to themaking and execution of the order.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit maygive such undertakings with respect to the payment ofdamages or costs or both as are required by the Court.

42. Before making a restraining order the Court mayrequire notice to be given to, and may hear, any person who,in the opinion of the Court, appears to have an interest in theproperty, unless the Court is of the opinion that giving suchnotice before making the order would result in thedisappearance, dissipation or reduction in value of the property.

Undertakingby theGovernment.


Notice ofapplicationforrestrainingorder.

43. A copy of a restraining order shall be served on aperson affected by the order in such manner as the Courtdirects or as may be prescribed by rules of court.

44. (1) A copy of a restraining order which affects landin Belize shall be registered with the Registrar of Lands.

(2) A restraining order is of no effect with respectto registered land unless it is registered as a caution under theRegistered Land Act.

(3) Where particulars of a restraining order areregistered under the Registered Land Act as a caution, aperson who subsequently deals with the property shall, forthe purposes of section 131 of that Act be deemed to havenotice of the order at the time of the dealing.

45. (1) A person who knowingly contravenes a re-straining order by disposing of or otherwise dealing withproperty that is subject to the restraining order commits aserious crime punishable upon conviction by –

(a) in the case of a natural person, a fine ofnot less than two thousand dollars butwhich may extend to fifty thousand dollarsor imprisonment for a period notexceeding two years or both;

(b) in the case of a legal person or otherentity, a fine of not less than fifty thousanddollars but which may extend to onehundred thousand dollars.

(2) Where a restraining order is made againstproperty and the property is disposed of, or otherwise dealtwith, in contravention of the restraining order, and thedisposition or dealing was not for sufficient consideration ornot in favour of a person who acted in good faith and without

Contraventionof restrainingorder.


Service ofrestrainingorder.

Registrationof restrainingorder.

Cap. 194.

Cap. 194.

notice, the Director of Public Prosecutions or the FinancialIntelligence Unit may apply to the Court that made therestraining order for an order that the disposition or dealingbe set aside.

(3) Where the Director of Public Prosecutions orthe Financial Intelligence Unit makes an application undersubsection (2) in relation to a disposition or dealing, theCourt may –

(a) set aside the disposition or dealing asfrom the day on which the disposition ordealing took place; or

(b) set aside the disposition or dealing asfrom the day of the order under this sub-section and declare the respective rightsof any persons who acquired interests inthe property on, or after the day on whichthe disposition or dealing took place, andbefore the day of the order made underthis subsection.

46. A restraining order remains in force until –

(a) it is discharged, revoked or varied; or

(b) a forfeiture order or a pecuniary penaltyorder, as the case may be, is made inrespect of property which is the subject ofthe order.

47. (1) A person who has an interest in property inrespect of which a restraining order was made may, at anytime, apply to the Court for an order under subsection (4).

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall notbe heard by the Court unless the applicant has given to theDirector of Public Prosecutions or the Financial IntelligenceUnit at least 3 clear days notice in writing of the application.

Duration ofrestrainingorder.

Review ofrestrainingorder.


(3) The Court may require notice of the applicationto be given to, and may hear, any person who in the opinionof the Court appears to have an interest in the property.

(4) On an application under subsection (1), theCourt may revoke or vary the order or make the order subjectto such conditions as the Court thinks fit. For the purposesof this subsection the Court may –

(a) require the applicant to enter intorecognisances;

(b) vary the order to permit the payment ofreasonable living expenses of the appli-cant, including his dependants, if any,and reasonable legal or business expensesof the applicant.

(5) An order under subsection (4) may only bemade if the Court is satisfied that –

(a) the applicant is the lawful owner of theproperty or is entitled to lawful possessionthereof and appears to be innocent of anycomplicity in the commission of a seriouscrime or of any collusion in relation tosuch offence; and

(b) the property will no longer be required forthe purposes of any investigation or asevidence in any proceedings.

48. (1) The Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit may apply to the Supreme Courtthat made a restraining order for an extension of the periodof the operation of the order.

(2) Where the Director of Public Prosecutions orthe Financial Intelligence Unit makes an application under

Extension ofrestrainingorder.


subsection (1), the Court may extend the operation of arestraining order for a specified period if it is satisfied that aforfeiture order may be made in respect of the property orpart thereof or that a pecuniary penalty order may be madeagainst the person.

49. (1) Where, upon application by the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit, theCourt is satisfied that a property is tainted property in respectof a serious crime of which a person has been convicted, theCourt may order that specified property to be forfeited.

(2) In determining whether property is taintedproperty the Court may infer, in the absence of evidence tothe contrary –

(a) that the property was used in or inconnection with the commission of aserious crime if it was in the person’spossession at the time of, or immediatelyafter the commission of the serious crimefor which the person was convicted;

(b) that the property was derived, obtained orrealized as a result of the commission ofthe serious crime if it was acquired by theperson before, during or within six yearsafter the period of the commission of theserious crime of which the person wasconvicted, and the Court is satisfied thatthe income of that person from sourcesunrelated to criminal activity of that personcannot reasonably account for theacquisition of that property.

(3) Where the Court orders that property, otherthan money, be forfeited, the Court shall specify in the orderthe amount that it considers to be the value of the property atthe time when the order is made.


Forfeitureorder onconviction.

(4) In considering whether a forfeiture ordershould be made under subsection (1) the Court shall haveregard to –

(a) the rights and interests, if any, of thirdparties in the property;

(b) the gravity of the serious crime concerned;

(c) any hardship that may reasonably beexpected to be caused to any person bythe operation of the order; and

(d) the use that is ordinarily made ofthe property, or the use to whichthe property was intended to beput.

(5) Where the Court makes a forfeiture order, theCourt may give such directions as are necessary or convenientfor giving effect to the order.

50. (1) Subject to subsection (2), where a Court makesa forfeiture order against any property, the property vestsabsolutely in the Government by virtue of the order.

(2) Where property ordered to be confiscated island –

(a) the property vests in the Government inequity but does not vest in the Govern-ment at law until the applicable registra-tion requirements under the RegisteredLands Act or the Law of Property Act, asappropriate, have been complied with;

(b) the Government is entitled to be regis-tered as owner of the property;


Effect offorfeitureorder onconviction.

Cap. 194.

Cap. 190.

(c) the Director of Public Prosecutions andthe Financial Intelligence Unit have poweron behalf of the Government to do orauthorise the doing of anything necessaryor convenient to obtain the registration ofthe Government as owner, including theexecution of any instrument to be executedby a person transferring an interest inproperty of that kind.

(3) Where the Court makes a forfeiture order againstproperty –

(a) the property shall not, except with theleave of the Court and in accordance withany directions of the Court, be disposedof, or otherwise dealt with, by or onbehalf of the Government before therelevant appeal date; and

(b) if after the relevant appeal date, the orderhas not been discharged, the propertymay be disposed of and the proceedsapplied or otherwise dealt with in accor-dance with the directions of the Ministerof Finance.

(4) In this section -

“relevant appeal date” used in relation to aforfeiture order made in consequence of aperson’s conviction of a serious crime means –

(a) the date on which the period allowed byrules of court for the lodging of an appealagainst a person’s conviction or for thelodging of an appeal against the makingof a forfeiture order expires without anappeal having been lodged, whichever isthe later; or


(b) where an appeal against a person’s con-viction or against the making of a forfei-ture order is lodged, the date on which theappeal lapses in accordance with the rulesof court or is finally determined, which-ever is the later.

51. The Court may –

(a) before making a forfeiture order; and

(b) in the case of property in respect of whicha restraining order was made and wherethe order was duly served -

set aside any conveyance or transfer of theproperty that occurred after the seizure of theproperty or the service of the restraining order,unless the conveyance or transfer was made forvaluable consideration to a person acting ingood faith and without notice.

52. (1) Where an application is made for a forfeitureorder against property, a person who claims an interest in theproperty may apply to the Court, before the forfeiture orderis made, for an order under subsection (2).

(2) If a person applies to the Court for an orderunder this section in respect of property and the Court issatisfied on a balance of probabilities –

(a) that he was not in any way involved in thecommission of the serious crime; and

(b) where he acquired the interest during orafter the commission of the serious crime,that he acquired the interest –

(i) for sufficient consideration; and

Protection ofthird parties.


Voidabletransfers

(ii) without knowing, and incircumstance such as not to arouse areasonable suspicion that theproperty was, at the time he acquiredit, property that was tainted property,

the Court shall make an order declaringthat his interest shall not be affected bythe forfeiture order.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), where a forfeitureorder has already been made directing the forfeiture ofproperty, a person who claims an interest in the propertymay, before the end of the period of 6 months commencingon the day on which the forfeiture order is made, apply underthis subsection to the Court for an order under subsection(2).

(4) A person who –

(a) had knowledge of the application for theforfeiture order before the order was made;or

(b) appeared at the hearing of that applica-tion,

shall not be permitted to make an applicationunder subsection (3) except with leave of theCourt.

(5) A person who makes an application undersubsection (1) or (3) shall give no less than 14 days writtennotice of the making of the application to the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit whoshall be a party to any proceedings in the application.

(6) An applicant or the Director of Public Prosecu-tions or the Financial Intelligence Unit, as the case may be,


in accordance with the rules of court, may appeal against anorder made under subsection (2).

(7) Any person appointed by the Court as a custo-dian or receiver for property shall, on application by anyperson who has obtained an order under subsection (2), andwhere the period allowed by the rules of court with respectto the making of appeals has expired and any appeal fromthat order has been determined –

(a) direct that the property or part thereof towhich the interest of the applicant relates,be returned to the applicant; or

(b) direct that an amount equal to the value ofthe interest of the applicant, as declared inthe order, be paid to the applicant.

53. (1) Where the Court makes a forfeiture order againstproperty in reliance on a person’s conviction of a seriouscrime and the conviction is subsequently quashed, the quash-ing of the conviction discharges the order.

(2) Where a forfeiture order against property isdischarged as provided for in subsection (1), or by the Courthearing an appeal against the making of the order, anyperson who claims to have an interest in the propertyimmediately before the making of the forfeiture order mayapply to the Registrar-General or the Registrar of Lands, asappropriate, in writing for the transfer of the interest to theperson.

(3) On receipt of an application under subsection(2) the Registrar-General or the Registrar of Lands, asappropriate, shall –

(a) if the interest is vested in the Govern-ment, give directions that the property or

Discharge offorfeitureorder onappeal andquashing ofconviction.


part thereof to which the interest of theapplicant relates be transferred to thatperson; or

(b) in any other case, direct that there be paidto that person an amount equal to theinterest as at the time the order is made.

(4) In the exercise of his powers under this sectionand section 50, the Registrar-General or the Registrar ofLands, as applicable, shall have the power to do or authorizethe doing of anything necessary or convenient to effect thetransfer or return of the property, including the execution ofany instrument and the making of any application for theregistration of an interest in the property on any appropriateregister.

54. Where the court is satisfied that a forfeiture ordershould be made in respect of the property of a personconvicted of a serious crime but that the property or any partthereof or interest therein cannot be made subject to such anorder and, in particular –

(a) cannot, on the exercise of due diligence, belocated;

(b) has been transferred to a third party incircumstances which do not give rise to areasonable inference that the title or interestwas transferred for the purpose of avoiding theforfeiture of the property;

(c) is located outside Belize;

(d) has been substantially diminished in value orrendered worthless; or

(e) has been commingled with other property thatcannot be divided without difficulty,

Paymentinstead of aforfeitureorder.


the Court may, instead of ordering the property orpart thereof or interest therein to be forfeited, orderthe person to pay to the Government an amount equalto the value of the property, part or interest.

55. Where the court orders a person to pay an amountunder section 54, that amount shall be treated as if it were afine imposed upon him in respect of a conviction for aserious crime, and the Court shall –

(a) notwithstanding any other law, impose indefault of the payment of that amount, a term ofimprisonment –

(i) of one year, where the amount does notexceed one thousand dollars;

(ii) of two years, where the amount exceedsone thousand dollars but does not exceedthree thousand dollars;

(iii) of three years, where the amount exceedsthree thousand dollars;

(b) direct that the term of imprisonment imposedpursuant to subsection (a) be served consecu-tively to any other form of imprisonment im-posed on that person, which that person is thenserving;

(c) direct that the rules regarding the remission ofsentences of prisoners serving a term ofimprisonment or the rules regarding the releaseon parole shall not apply in relation to a term ofimprisonment, imposed on a person pursuant toparagraph (a).


Application ofprocedure forenforcingfines.

56. (1) The Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit may apply to the court for aforfeiture order in respect of tainted property if the accusedhas died or absconded. If the court is satisfied that –

(a) any property is tainted property in respectof the serious crime;

(b) proceedings in respect of a serious crimecommitted in relation to that propertywere commenced; and

(c) the accused charged with the offencereferred to in paragraph (b) has died orabsconded,

the Court may order that the property or suchproperty as is specified by the Court in theorder be forfeited.

(2) For purposes of subsection (1), sections 49, 50,51 and 52 shall apply with such modifications as are necessaryto give effect to this section.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person isdeemed to have absconded if reasonable attempts to arrestthe person pursuant to the warrant have been unsuccessfulduring the period of six months commencing on the day thewarrant was issued, and the person shall be deemed to haveso absconded on the last day of that period.

57. (1) Subject to this section, where the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit appliesto the Court for a pecuniary penalty order against a personin respect of that person’s offence, the Court shall, if it issatisfied that the person has benefited from that offence,order him to pay to the Government an amount equal to the


Pecuniarypenalty orderon conviction.

Forfeiturewhere aperson dies orabsconds.

value of his benefit from the offence or such lesser amountas the Court certifies in accordance with section 60 (2) to bethe amount that might be realised at the time the pecuniarypenalty order is made.

(2) The Court shall assess the value of the benefitsderived by a person from the commission of an offence inaccordance with sections 58, 59, 60, and 61.

(3) The Court shall not make a pecuniary penaltyorder under this section –

(a) until the period allowed by the rules ofcourt for the lodging of an appeal againstconviction has expired without suchappeal having been lodged; or

(b) where an appeal against conviction hasbeen lodged, until the appeal lapses inaccordance with the rules of court or isfinally determined, whichever is the laterdate.

58. (1) Where a person obtains property as the resultof, or in connection with the commission of a serious crime,his benefit is the value of the property so obtained.

(2) Where a person derived an advantage as aresult of or in connection with the commission of a seriouscrime, his advantage shall be deemed to be a sum of moneyequal to the value of the advantage so derived.

(3) The Court, in determining whether a personhas benefited from the commission of a serious crime or fromthe offence taken together with other serious crimes shall,unless the contrary is proved, deem –

Rules fordeterminingbenefit andassessingvalue.


(a) all property appearing to the Court to beheld by the person on the day on whichthe application is made; and

(b) all property appearing to the Court to beheld by the person at any time –

(i) within the period between the daythe serious crime, or the earliestserious crime, was committed andthe day on which the application ismade; or

(ii) within the period of 6 yearsimmediately before the day on whichthe application is made, whicheveris the longer,

to be property that came into thepossession or under the control of theperson by the reason of the commissionof that serious crime or those seriouscrimes for which the person wasconvicted;

(c) any expenditure by the person since thebeginning of that period to be expendi-ture met out of payments received by himas a result of, or in connection with, thecommission of that serious crime or thoseserious crimes; and

(d) any property received or deemed to havebeen received by the person at any time asa result of, or in connection with thecommission by him of that serious crimeor those serious crimes as property re-ceived by him free of any interest therein.


(4) Where a pecuniary penalty order has beenpreviously made against a person, in assessing the value ofany benefit derived by him from the commission of theserious crime, the Court shall leave out of account any of thebenefits that are shown to the Court to have been taken intoaccount in determining the amount to be recovered underthat order.

(5) If evidence is given at the hearing of the appli-cation that the value of the person’s property at any time afterthe commission of the serious crime exceeded the value ofthe person’s property before the commission of the offence,then the Court shall, subject to subsection (6), treat the valueof the benefit as being not less than the amount of that excess.

(6) If, after evidence of the kind referred to insubsection (5) is given, the person satisfies the court that thewhole or part of the excess was due to causes unrelated to thecommission of the serious crime, subsection (5) does notapply to the excess or, as the case may be, that part.

59. (1) Where –

(a) a person has been convicted of a seriouscrime and the Director of Public Prosecu-tions or the Financial Intelligence Unittenders to the court a statement as to anymatters relevant to –

(i) determining whether the person hasbenefited from the offence or fromany other serious crime of which heis convicted in the same proceedingsor which is taken into account indetermining his sentence; or

(ii) an assessment of the value of theperson’s benefit from the offence orany other serious crime of which he

Statementsrelating tobenefit fromcommissionof seriouscrimes.


is convicted in the same proceedingsor which is taken into account; and

(b) the person accepts to any extent an allega-tion in the statement,

the court may, for the purposes of so determiningor making that assessment, treat his acceptanceas conclusive of the matters to which it relates.

(2) Where –

(a) a statement is tendered under subsection(1)(a); and

(b) the court is satisfied that a copy of thatstatement has been served on the person,

the court may require the person to indicate towhat extent he accepts each allegation in thestatement and so far as he does not accept anyallegation, to indicate any matters he proposesto rely on.

(3) Where the person fails in any respect to complywith a requirement under subsection (2), he may be treatedfor the purposes of this section as having accepted everyallegation in the statement other than –

(a) an allegation in respect of which hecomplied with the requirement; and

(b) an allegation that he has benefited fromthe serious crime or that any property oradvantage was obtained by him as a resultof or in connection with the commissionof the offence.


(4) Where –

(a) the person tenders to the court a statementas to any matters relevant to determiningthe amount that might be realised at thetime the pecuniary penalty order is made;and

(b) the Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit accepts to anyextent any allegation in the statement,

the court may, for the purposes of that determi-nation, treat the acceptance of the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelli-gence Unit, as the case may be, as conclusive ofthe matters to which it relates.

(5) An allegation may be accepted or a matterindicated for the purposes of this section either –

(a) orally before the court; or

(b) in writing in accordance with rules ofcourt.

(6) An acceptance by a person under this sectionthat he received any benefits from the commission of aserious crime is admissible in any proceedings for any crime.

60. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the amount to berecovered in a person’s case under a pecuniary penalty ordershall be the amount which the court assesses to be the valueof that person’s benefit from the serious crime or if more thanone, all the offences in respect of which the order may bemade.

Amountrecoveredunderpecuniarypenalty order.



Variation ofpecuniarypenalty order.

(2) Where the court is satisfied as to any matterrelevant for determining the amount which might be realisedat the time the pecuniary penalty order is made, whether byacceptance under section 59 or otherwise, the court mayissue a certificate giving its opinion as to the matters con-cerned, and shall do so if satisfied that the amount that mightbe realised at the time the pecuniary penalty order is made isless than the amount it assesses to be the value of the person’sbenefit from the offence, or if more than one, all the offencesin respect of which the pecuniary penalty order may bemade.

61. Where –

(a) the court makes a pecuniary penalty orderagainst a person in relation to a seriouscrime; and

(b) in calculating the amount of the pecuniarypenalty order, the court took into accounta forfeiture order of the property or aproposed forfeiture order in respect of theproperty; and

(c) an appeal against forfeiture or a forfeitureorder is allowed or the proceedings fromthe proposed forfeiture order terminatewithout the proposed forfeiture orderbeing made;

the Director of Public Prosecutions or the FinancialIntelligence Unit may apply to the court for a variationof the pecuniary penalty order to increase the amountof the order by the value of the property not soforfeited and the court may, if it considers itappropriate to do so, vary the order accordingly.

62. (1) In assessing the value of benefits derived by aperson from the commission of a serious crime, the court

Lifting thecorporate veil.

may treat as property of the person any property that, in theopinion of the court, is subject to the effective control of theperson whether or not he has –

(a) any legal or equitable interest in theproperty; or

(b) any right, power or privilege in connec-tion with the property.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsec-tion (1), the court may have regard to –

(a) shareholdings in, debentures over ordirectorships in any company that has aninterest, whether direct or indirect, in theproperty, and for this purpose the courtmay order the investigation and inspectionof the books of a named company;

(b) any trust that has any relationship to theproperty;

(c) any relationship whatsoever between thepersons having an interest in the propertyor in companies of the kind referred to inparagraph (a) or trust of the kind referredto in paragraph (b), and any other per-sons.

(3) Where the court, for the purposes of making apecuniary order against a person, treats particular propertyas the person’s property pursuant to subsection (1), the courtmay, on application by the Director of Public Prosecutionsor the Financial Intelligence Unit make an order declaringthat the property is available to satisfy the order.

(4) Where the court declares that property is avail-able to satisfy a pecuniary penalty order –


(a) the order may be enforced against theproperty as if the property were theproperty of the person against whom theorder is made; and

(b) a restraining order may be made in respectof the property as if the property wereproperty of the person against whom theorder is made.

(5) Where the Director of Public Prosecutions orthe Financial Intelligence Unit makes an application for anorder under subsection (3) that property is available tosatisfy a pecuniary penalty order against a person –

(a) the Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit, as the casemay be, shall give written notice of theapplication to the person and to any per-son who the Director of Public Prosecu-tions or the Financial Intelligence Unithas reason to believe may have an interestin the property; and

(b) the person and any person who claims aninterest in the property may appear andadduce evidence at the hearing.

63. Where the court orders a person to pay an amountunder a pecuniary penalty order, the provisions of section 55shall apply with such modifications as the court may deter-mine for the purpose of empowering the court to impose aterm of imprisonment on a person in default of complianceby him with a pecuniary penalty order.

64. A pecuniary penalty order is discharged –

Enforcementof pecuniarypenalty order.

Discharge ofpecuniarypenalty order.


(a) if the conviction of the serious crime orcrimes in reliance on which the order wasmade is or is deemed to be quashed andno conviction for the crime or crimes issubstituted;

(b) if the order is quashed on appeal; or

(c) on the satisfaction of the order by pay-ment of the amount due under the order.

65. (1) The measures and sanctions referred to in sec-tions 39 and 49 shall apply without prejudice to the rights ofbona fide third parties.

(2) Proper notifications shall be made so that allthose claiming legitimate legal interest in property, proceedsor instrumentalities may appear in support of their claims.

(3) A third party’s lack of good faith may beinferred, at the discretion of the court or other competentauthority, from the objective circumstances of the case.

(4) The court or other competent authority shallreturn the property, proceeds or instrumentalities to theclaimant, when it has been demonstrated to its satisfactionthat:-

(a) the claimant has a legitimate legal interestin the property, proceeds or instrumen-talities;

(b) no participation, collusion or involve-ment with respect to the money launder-ing offence or the terrorist financing of-fence which is the subject of the proceed-ings can be imputed to the claimant;

Rights ofbona fide thirdparties.


(c) the claimant lacked knowledge and wasnot intentionally ignorant of the illegaluse of the property, proceeds or instru-mentalities or if he had knowledge, didnot freely consent to its illegal use;

(d) the claimant did not acquire any right inthe property, proceeds or instrumentalitiesfrom a person proceeded against undercircumstances that give rise to a reasonableinference that any right was transferredfor the purpose of avoiding the eventualsubsequent forfeiture of the property,proceeds or instrumentalities, and

(e) the claimant did all that could reasonablybe expected to prevent the illegal use ofthe property, proceeds or instrumentali-ties.

66. No liability shall be incurred by, and no suit, legalproceedings or other action, administrative or otherwise,shall be commenced, brought or instituted against any super-visory authority, the Director of Public Prosecutions, theDirector, Financial Intelligence Unit, the Minister or any oftheir agents for any act done or omitted to be done in goodfaith:

(a) in the performance or intended perfor-mance of any function or duty; or

(b) in the exercise or intended exercise of anypower,

under this Act or Regulations made hereunder.

67. (1) Where the Financial Intelligence Unit hasreasonable grounds to suspect that any cash –

Immunityfrom action.

Seizure anddetention ofterrorist cash.


(a) is intended to be used for the purposes ofterrorism;

(b) belongs to, or is held on trust for, a terroristorganisation; or

(c) is or represents property obtained throughacts of terrorism,

it may seize the cash.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit may seize thecash, even if it reasonably suspects part only of the cash tobe terrorist cash, where it is not reasonably practicable toseize that part only of the cash.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit may exerciseits powers under subsection (1), whether or not any proceed-ings have been brought for an offence in connection with theterrorist cash.

(4) The Financial Intelligence Unit shall, as soonas is reasonably practicable, apply to a Judge in Chambersfor a detention order with respect to the cash seized undersubsection (1).

(5) The Judge in Chambers shall not make an orderfor detention of the cash unless he is satisfied that there arereasonable grounds for suspecting that the cash –

(a) is intended to be used for the purposes ofterrorism;

(b) consists of resources of a terroristorganisation; or

(c) is or represents property obtained throughterrorists activities.


(6) Subject to subsection (8), any order made un-der subsection (5) shall remain valid for a period of 90 days,and may be renewed for further periods of 90 days by theJudge in Chambers, until production of the cash before thecourt in proceedings against any person for an offence withwhich the cash is connected.

(7) Any cash detained under this section shall bedeposited by the Financial Intelligence Unit in an interest-bearing account.

(8) The cash, with the interest, may be released byorder of the Judge in Chambers –

(a) where the conditions under subsection(5) are no longer met; or

(b) where no proceedings are brought inBelize or elsewhere against any personfor an offence relating to the detainedcash.

(9) For the purposes of this section, “cash” means –

(a) coins and notes in any currency;

(b) postal orders;

(c) traveller’s cheques;

(d) banker’s drafts;

(e) bearer bonds and bearer shares; or

(f) such other monetary instruments as theMinister may, by notice published in theGazette, specify.


68. (1) Any person who by any means, directly orindirectly, wilfully provides or collects funds or otherproperty, with the intention that they should be used or in theknowledge that they are to be used in whole or in part:

(a) to commit an act or omission, whether inBelize or outside Belize, which consti-tutes an offence within the scope of acounter terrorism Convention listed inthe Fourth Schedule to this Act; or

(b) to commit any act intended to cause thedeath of or serious bodily injury to anycivilian or any other person not taking anactive part in the hostilities in a situationof armed conflict when the purpose ofsuch act, by its nature and context, is tointimidate a population or compel agovernment or international organizationto perform or refrain from performing anact of any kind;

(c) by a terrorist; or

(d) by a terrorist organization,

commits an offence and shall be liable to thesame penalties as prescribed in section 5 of thisAct for the offence of terrorism.

(2) Every person who –

(a) organises or directs others to commit; or

(b) attempts to commit; or

(c) conspires to commit; or


Terroristfinancing.

FourthSchedule.

(d) participates as an accomplice to a personcommitting, or attempting to commit; or

(e) aids, abets, facilitates, counsels or pro-cures the commission of,

an offence under subsection (1) commits anoffence under this Act and shall be liable to thesame penalties as prescribed in subsection (1)of this section.

(3) An offence under subsection (1) is committedirrespective of the occurrence of a terrorist act or whether thefunds have been used to commit such an act.

(4) The Minister may, from time to time by orderpublished in the Gazette, publish a list of terrorists andterrorist organisations but until such time as an Order is madeunder this section, the list of terrorists and terrorist organiza-tions contained in the Second Schedule to the SecurityCouncil Resolution 1617 (2005) (Enforcement) Order, 2006,as amended, shall have effect for the purposes of this Act.

69. Any person who –

(a) solicits, receives, provides or possessesmoney or other property; or

(b) enters into, or becomes concerned in, anarrangement as a result of which moneyor other property is made available or is tobe made available,

for the purposes of terrorism, or for a terroristorganisation, commits an offence and is liableon conviction to the same penalties as prescribedin subsection (1) of section 68.

S.I. 32/2006.

Relatedoffences inrelation toterroristfinancing.


70. (1) Any person who enters into, or becomes con-cerned in, an arrangement which facilitates the retention orcontrol by, or on behalf of, another person, of terroristproperty, in any manner, including –

(a) concealment;

(b) removal from the jurisdiction; or

(c) transfer to any other person,

commits an offence and is liable on convictionto the same penalties as prescribed in subsec-tion (1) of section 68.

(2) It shall be a defence for a person charged undersubsection (1) to prove that he did not know and had noreasonable cause to suspect that the arrangement is related toterrorist property.

71. (1) Where the Financial Intelligence Unit hasreason to believe or suspects that a reporting entity holds anaccount or property on behalf of a terrorist or terroristorganisation, it shall issue a written directive to the reportingentity in Belize requiring it to restrain or freeze any accountor other property held by that reporting entity on behalf ofterrorist or terrorist organization and the reporting entityshall comply with such a directive.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a directive given bythe Financial Intelligence Unit pursuant to subsection (1)shall be effective for 3 months unless earlier revoked by theFinancial Intelligence Unit.

(3) The Supreme Court may, upon the applicationof the Director of Public Prosecutions or the FinancialIntelligence Unit, order the extension of a restraining or afreeze direction issued pursuant to subsection (1), if the

Directives.


Dealing interroristproperty.

Court is satisfied that the account or other property is ownedby or on behalf of a terrorist or terrorist organization.

(4) The Financial Intelligence Unit may revokeany directive issued under subsection (1) and shall notify thereporting entities accordingly.

(5) Where the Financial Intelligence Unit decidesto revoke a directive which has been extended by theSupreme Court under subsection (3), it shall notify theSupreme Court accordingly and the Supreme Court shallrevoke the extension order.

(6) Revocation of a directive or extension ordershall not affect the validity of any action taken on the basisof the direction or the order prior to revocation.

(7) A person affected by a directive issued undersubsection (1) may apply to the Supreme Court for a revo-cation of the direction in relation to him.

(8) The Supreme Court shall revoke the directivein relation to the applicant under subsection (7) if satisfiedthat the account or other property or the person’s interest init is not owned by or on behalf of a terrorist or terroristorganisation.

(9) It shall be a defence against any action broughtagainst a supervisory authority or any person who complieswith a direction issued under subsection (1) that the issuanceof the direction or the compliance therewith was in accor-dance with the provisions of this section.

(10) No person shall be held liable in any court foror with respect to anything done or omitted to be done ingood faith in accordance with this section.

72. The Director of Public Prosecutions or the FinancialIntelligence Unit may apply to the Supreme Court for aforfeiture order against terrorist property.

Applicationfor forfeitureorder.


73. Where the Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit applies under section 72 for aforfeiture order:

(a) he or it shall give no less than seven dayswritten notice of the application only toany person who is known to own orcontrol directly or indirectly, wholly orjointly [or have an interest in] the terroristproperty in respect of which the applica-tion is being made;

(b) the person and any other person whoclaims an interest in the property mayappear and produce evidence at thehearing of the application; and

(c) The Supreme Court may, at any timebefore the final determination of theapplication, direct the Director of PublicProsecutions or the Financial IntelligenceUnit (as the case may be) to:

(i) give notice of the application to anyperson who, in the opinion of theCourt, appears to have an interest inthe property;

(ii) publish in the Gazette or anewspaper published and circulatingin Belize, a notice of the application.

74. (1) Where, upon application by the Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the Financial Intelligence Unit, theCourt is satisfied, on a balance of probabilities, that propertyto which the application relates is terrorist property, theCourt shall order that specified property to be forfeited.

Forfeitureorder forterroristproperty.


Notice ofApplication.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if a personclaiming an interest in the property to which an applicationrelates satisfies the Court that he –

(a) has an interest in the property;

(b) has, in the circumstances, exercisedreasonable care to ensure that the propertyis not terrorist property; and

(c) is not a member of a terrorist group,

the Court shall order that the interest of that person shall notbe affected by the forfeiture order, and the Court shalldeclare the nature and extent of the interest in question.

(3) If a person obtains an interest in property afterit becomes terrorist property, no order shall be made undersubsection (2) in respect of that interest unless the person isa bona fide purchaser for value, without reason to suspectthat the property is terrorist property.

(4) Where the Court makes a forfeiture order, theCourt may give such directions as are necessary or convenientfor giving effect to the order.

75. (1) Subject to subsection (2), where the SupremeCourt makes a forfeiture order against any property, theproperty vests absolutely in the Government by virtue of theorder.

(2) Where property ordered to be forfeited is realproperty –

(a) the property vests in Government in equityonly and not at law until the applicableregistration requirements have beencomplied with;

Effect offorfeitureorder inrespect ofterroristproperty.


(b) the Government is entitled to be regis-tered as owner of the property;

(c) the Director of Public Prosecutions or theFinancial Intelligence Unit has power onbehalf of the Government to do orauthorise the doing of anything necessaryor convenient to obtain the registration ofGovernment as owner, including theexecution of any instrument to be executedby a person transferring an interest inproperty of that kind.

PART V

International Cooperation

76. (1) The Supreme Court, a supervisory authority orother competent authority shall cooperate with a superiorcourt or other competent authority of another State, takingthe appropriate measures to provide assistance in mattersconcerning money laundering offences, terrorist financingoffences and other serious crimes, in accordance with thisAct, and within the limits of their respective legal systems.

(2) The Supreme Court or other competent authoritymay receive a request from a superior court or other competentauthority of another State to identify, trace, freeze, seize orforfeit the property, proceeds, or instrumentalities connectedto money laundering offences, terrorist financing offencesand serious crimes, and may take appropriate actions toprovide the widest range of assistance, including thosecontained in Parts III and IV of this Act.

(3) A final judicial order or judgment that providesfor the forfeiture of property, proceeds or instrumentalitiesconnected to a money laundering offence, terrorist financingoffence or other serious offence, issued by a court or other

Assistance toforeigncountries.


competent authority of another State, may be recognized byjudicial authorities in Belize as evidence that the property,proceeds or instrumentalities referred to by such order orjudgment is subject to forfeiture in accordance with the law.A court in Belize may treat such order or judgment asevidence in any proceedings to obtain a forfeiture orderunder the laws of Belize.

(4) The Supreme Court, a supervisory authority orother competent authority may receive and take appropriatemeasures with respect to a request from a superior court orother competent authority of another State, for assistancerelated to civil, criminal, or administrative investigation,prosecution or proceedings, as the case may be, involving amoney laundering offence, terrorist financing offence orother serious offence, or the proceeds of any such offence,or violations of any provisions similar to those set out in thisAct. Such assistance may include providing original orcertified copies of relevant documents and records, includingthose of financial institutions and government agencies,obtaining testimony or statements in Belize; facilitating thevoluntary presence or availability in the requesting State ofpersons, including those in custody, to give testimony,locating or identifying persons, service of documents,examining objects and places; executing searches andseizures; providing information and evidentiary items;restraining property or undertaking other provisionalmeasures; and identifying or tracing proceeds orinstrumentalities of crime. A treaty or other agreement shallnot be necessary for the Supreme Court or other competentauthority to provide assistance under this section, and dualcriminality shall not be required.

(5) Any provisions referring to bank secrecy orconfidentiality shall not be an impediment to the provision ofassistance to a requesting State. The Supreme Court, uponrequest for information from the judicial or other competentauthorities of another State, may order a bank or other


financial institution to produce information otherwise pro-tected by bank secrecy or confidentiality.

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit may take suchaction as may be appropriate including directing the freezingof funds and other financial assets or economic resources ofany person to comply with or give effect to a resolution of theSecurity Council of the United Nations adopted underChapter VII of the United Nations Charter:

Provided that if the Security Council takes anysubsequent decision which has the effect of postponing,suspending or canceling the operation of such resolution, inwhole or in part, any order made by the Financial Intelli-gence Unit pursuant to that resolution shall cease to haveeffect or its operation shall be postponed or suspended, inwhole or in part, as the case may be, in accordance with thatdecision.

PART VI

Miscellaneous

77. Money laundering, terrorism and terrorist financingoffences shall be extraditable offences. They shall bedeemed to be offences for which extradition from Belizemay take place under any law or treaty to which Belize is aparty relating to extradition or the rendition of fugitives.

78. There is hereby established a special fund to beknown as the Belize Confiscated and Forfeited Assets Fund(hereinafter referred to as “the Fund”).

79. (1) There shall be credited to the Fund:

(a) all moneys derived from the fulfilment ofconfiscation and forfeiture orders and from


Moneylaunderingand terroristfinancing tobeextraditableoffences.

Establishmentof the Fund.

Receipts andDisbursements.

settlements of confiscation and forfeitureclaims;

(b) any sums of money allocated to the Fundfrom time to time by parliamentary appro-priation;

(c) any voluntary payment, grant or gift madeby any person for the purposes of theFund;

(d) any income derived from the investmentof any amount standing to the credit of theFund; and

(e) any sharing of confiscated or forfeitedproperty and funds received from otherStates.

(2) The Minister of Finance may authorise pay-ments out of the Fund to –

(a) pay the administrative expenses of theFinancial Intelligence Unit;

(b) compensate victims who suffered lossesas a result of serious crimes, terrorism orother unlawful activity;

(c) satisfy a compensation order made underthis Act;

(d) enable the appropriate law enforcementagencies to continue their fight againstserious crimes, terrorism and other un-lawful activities;

(e) share forfeited property with foreignStates;

(f) rehabilitation of drug users;


(g) public education on the dangers of drugabuse;

(h) satisfy a compensation order relating tothe lifting of a restraint;

(i) pay expenses relating to the recovery,management and disposition of propertyincluding mortgages and liens againstrelevant property and the fees of receivers,trustees, managers or other professionalsproviding assistance; and

(j) pay the costs associated with the adminis-tration of the Fund, including the costs ofexternal audits.

(3) The Fund shall be annually audited by anexternal auditor approved by the Minister.

80. (1) The Minister of Finance shall table a reportin the National Assembly, that shall be made publiclyavailable, not later than the first sitting of the House afterthe expiry of 90 days from the close of the fiscal yeardetailing –

(a) the amounts credited to the Fund;

(b) the investments made with the amountscredited to the Fund; and

(c) the payments made from the Fund, in-cluding the specific purpose for whicheach payment was made and to whom itwas made.

Annualreport toNationalAssembly.


(2) The report referred to in subsection (1) aboveshall be prepared by the Director, Financial IntelligenceUnit, and shall be submitted to the Minister not later than 1stMay in every year.

81. Subject to the provisions of the Belize Constitution,the provision of this Act shall have effect notwithstandingany obligation as to secrecy or other restriction upon thedisclosure of information imposed by any law or otherwise.

82. It shall not be unlawful for any person to make anydisclosure in compliance with this Act.

83. Every financial institution or other person who failsto comply with any direction or instruction given by theFinancial Intelligence Unit or a supervisory authority underthis Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall, unless apenalty is specifically provided elsewhere, be liable onsummary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-fivethousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceedingthree years, or to both.

84. (1) No prosecution in respect of any offencecommitted under this Act or the Regulations made thereundershall be instituted except by, or with the consent in writingof, the Director of Public Prosecutions or the FinancialIntelligence Unit:

Provided that this subsection shall not prevent thearrest, or the issue or execution of a warrant for thearrest, of any person in respect of such an offence, orthe remand in custody or on bail of any personcharged with such an offence, notwithstanding thatthe necessary consent to the institution of proceedingsfor the offence has not been obtained.

(2) All offences under this Act shall be triedsummarily without the consent of the accused unless

Generalpenalty fornon-compliance.

Investigationandprosecutionof offences.


Secrecyobligationsoverridden.CAP.4.

Disclosureprotected.

otherwise directed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Ifno contrary direction is received by the court at the time ofarraignment or trial, the court shall proceed to summary trialwithout making any further enquiries in that respect.

(3) In the investigation and prosecution of offencesunder this Act, or in the obtaining of ancillary and interimorders from the court, or in the taking of any other measuresreferred or provided by this Act, the Director of PublicProsecutions, the Director, Financial Intelligence Unit andthe Commissioner of Police shall coordinate their activitiesand render one another all such assistance as may be requiredfor giving full effect to the provisions and purposes of thisAct.

85. All prosecutions, actions, suits or other proceedingsbrought for any offence, or for the recovery of any fines,penalties or forfeitures, under this Act or the Regulationsmade thereunder, shall be brought within five years nextafter the date the offence was committed or the cause ofaction accrued or the facts giving rise to such offence cameto the knowledge of the Director of Public Prosecutions orthe Financial Intelligence Unit.

86. (1) The Minister may make Regulations for thebetter carrying out of the provisions of this Act and forprescribing anything that needs to be prescribed.

(2) All Regulations made under subsection (1)shall be subject to negative resolution.

87. This Act shall come into force on a day to beappointed by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette.

88. (1) On the coming into force of this Act, theMoney Laundering (Prevention) Act shall stand repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) above, any in-vestigation, prosecution, legal proceeding or remedy inrespect of any offence committed or any liability incurred

Regulations.

Commencement.

Repeal ofChapter 104.


Limitation ofproceedings.

under the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act may beinstituted, continued or enforced, and the penalty, forfeitureor punishment may be imposed, as if the said Act had notbeen repealed.

Cap. 104


FIRST SCHEDULE(Section 2)

Activities and businesses subject to this Act

1. Acceptance of deposits and other repayablefunds from the public.

2. Lending, including consumer credit, mortgagecredit, factoring (with or without recourse) andfinancing of commercial transactions.

3. Financial leasing.

4. Transfer of money or value.

5. Money and currency changing (such as casa decambio).

6. Pawning.

7. Issuing and administering means of payment(such as credit and debit cards, traveller’scheques, money orders, bankers drafts andelectronic money).

8. Issuing financial guarantees and commitments.

9. Trading for own account or for account ofcustomers in money market instruments (suchas cheques, bills, certificates of deposit, deriva-tives), foreign exchange, financial futures andoptions, exchange and interest rate instruments,transferable securities and commodity futurestrading.

10. Credit unions.


11. Participation in securities issues and theprovision of financial services related to suchissues.

12. Advice to undertakings on capital structure,industrial strategy and related questions, andadvice and services relating to mergers and thepurchase of undertakings.

13. Portfolio management and advice whetherindividual or collective.

14. Safekeeping and administration of securities.

15. Safe keeping and administration of cash orliquid securities on behalf of other persons.

16. Otherwise investing, administering or managingfunds or money on behalf of other persons.

17. Gambling houses.

18. Casinos.

19. Internet Casinos or Online Gaming

20. Buying or selling of gold bullion.

21. Insurance business.

22. Venture risk capital.

23. Unit trusts.

24. A trust or company service provider nototherwise covered by this schedule, which as abusiness, provides any of the following servicesto third parties:


a. acting as a formation agent of legalpersons;

b. acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a director orsecretary of a company, a partner ofa partnership, or a similar positionin relation to other legal persons;

c. providing a registered office;business address or accommodation,correspondence or administrativeaddress for a company, a partnershipor any other legal person orarrangement;

d. acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a trustee of anexpress trust;

e. acting as (or arranging for anotherperson to act as) a nomineeshareholder for another person.

25. International (or Offshore) banking business asdefined in the International Banking Act.

26. Lawyers, notaries, other independent legalprofessionals, accountants, auditors and taxadvisers, when they prepare for or carry outtransactions for their clients concerning thefollowing activities:

a. buying and selling of real estate;

b. managing of client money, securitiesor other assets;

Cap. 267.


c. management of bank, savings or securi-ties accounts;

d. organisation of contributions for thecreation, operation or management ofcompanies;

e. creation, operation or management of legalpersons or arrangements, and buying andselling of business entities.

27. Dealing in real estate when the persons dealingare involved in transactions concerning thebuying and selling of real estate.

28. Dealing in precious metals and dealing inprecious stones.

29. Dealing in vehicles.

30. Engaging in international financial services asdefined in the International Financial ServicesCommission Act.

Cap. 272.


SECOND SCHEDULE

[Section 2]

Serious Offences

Murder, manslaughter, dangerous and grievous bodily harm

Kidnapping, illegal restraint and hostage-taking

Robbery

Theft involving more than $10,000.00

Terrorism including terrorist financing and related offences

Drug Trafficking and related offences

Blackmail

Counterfeiting

Extortion

False accounting

Forgery

Fraud

Smuggling

Trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling

Illicit trafficking in stolen and other goods

Corruption and bribery

Environmental offences

Piracy

Participation in criminal gangs

Sexual exploitation of women and children


THIRD SCHEDULE

(Section 2)

Supervisory authorities



214 Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) [No. 18


FOURTH SCHEDULE

(Section 2)

Counter Terrorism Conventions

1. Convention on Offences and certain OtherActs committed on Board Aircraft signed atTokyo on 14th September 1963;

2. Convention for the Suppression of UnlawfulSeizure of Aircraft done at the Hague on 16th

December 1970;

3. Convention for the Suppression of UnlawfulActs Against the Safety of Civil Aviation, doneat Montreal on 23rd September 1971;

4. Convention on the Prevention and Punishmentof Crimes Against Internationally ProtectedPerson, including Diplomatic Agents, adoptedby the General Assembly of the United Nationson 14th December 1973;

5. International Convention against the taking ofHostages, adopted by the General Assembly ofthe United Nations on 17th December 1979;

6. Convention on the Physical Protection ofNuclear Material, adopted at Vienna on 3rd

March 1980;

7. Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Actsof Violence at Airports Serving InternationalCivil Aviation, supplementary to the Conven-tion for the Suppression of unlawful Acts againstthe Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montrealon 24th February 1988;

216 Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) [No. 18

8. Convention for the Suppression of UnlawfulActs against the Safety of Maritime Naviga-tion, done at Rome on 10th March 1988;

9. Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Actsagainst the Safety of Fixed Platforms locatedon the Continental Shelf, done at Rome on 10th

March 1988;

10. Convention of the Marking of Plastic Explo-sives for the Purposes of Detention, signed atMontreal, on 1st March 1991;

11. International Convention for the Suppressionof Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations on 15th De-cember 1997; and

12. International Convention for the Suppressionof the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations on 9th

December 1999.

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Documents

BELIZE: MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM (PREVENTION) ACT, 2008 … › pdf › Belize_Money_Laundering_and... · 1. This Act may be cited as the MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM (PREVENTION)