EC $5m sent from Grenada to fund terrorism

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada-FINANCIAL scams have cost the Grenadian people nearly EC $5 million, much of which may have gone toward the funding of international terrorism one top investigator stated recently.

Having conducted an extensive investigation into criminal financing in Grenada, Directing Officer of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Tafawa Pierre, stated that many Grenadians have become subject to scams terrorists employ to finance their operations.

“Terrorists are known for organising and getting involved in such activities and we are concerned that those persons are innocently funding them.~~Adz:Right~~

“It's a serious problem affecting the financial sector and we at the Unit have estimated that more than five million dollars have gone out of the country. That's people’s hard earned cash going and nothing is coming back to the country,” Pierre said.

The officer said that his team had found that many of these scams took place via the internet and one Grenadian had even lost as much as EC $1.2 million over a four year period.

While he said that the fraud attempts would only increase as more and more persons use technology in their daily lives, Pierre went on to add that the Financial Intelligence Unit would be actively pursuing prosecution of those who aid such activities and education of the public about the scams.

“Our laws clearly speak and make provision for those kinds of financial criminal offenses, so we are first going to educate the public about the law and then any person who facilitates these fraudsters will be charged for facilitating involvement in fraudulent activities.”