Jamaica authorities forfeit cash seized from extradited Guyanese businessman

Jun 28, 2020 News

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Jamaica (Jamaica Observer) — The Financial Investigations Division (FID) is reporting that proceeds of crime in excess of US$20,000 and an assortment of currencies amounting to over J$1,200,000 have been removed from circulation in separate cases through its use of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

The first matter concerns a joint investigation involving the FID, Hanover Police, and United States Postal Inspection Services (USPIS) which culminated in an alleged scamming victim receiving partial restitution of monies filched from her.
The division said the investigation commenced following reports that a 40-year-old male resident of a Hanover address had received over US$71,000 via a wire transfer from a female United States citizen. The funds were allegedly to be invested in a business venture in Jamaica.
The funds were however converted to the personal use of the recipient resulting in detectives from the FID arresting and charging him for breaches of POCA and the Larceny Act.
Chief Technical Director for the FID, Selvin Hay, says the joint investigation with USPIS confirms the outstanding and deep-rooted relationship FID shares with our US counterparts in the fight against transnational crimes including all forms of scamming.
He added that recovering the proceeds of crime through whatever lawful means is always a win in the fight against money laundering and other financial crimes.
Hay said this was a busy week for the FID, culminating with several forfeiture orders being granted by local courts on June 18 and June 25 respectively in respect of cash seized under the POCA.
On June 18, the Westmoreland Parish Court ordered the forfeiture of cash in the amount of J$163,750. Police seized the cash and ganja weighing 1,034 pounds from a Westmoreland businessman, Audley Gayle.
The cash was seized by the police under the POCA on the suspicion that it was derived from unlawful conduct. It was then forfeited following his guilty plea to several breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act in December 2018.
Likewise, on June 25, the Corporate Area Parish Court ordered the forfeiture of cash seized from Guyanese businessman, Shervington ‘Big Head’ Lovell, Steven Antonius and Ricardo Ramirez, otherwise called Argemiro Zapato-Castro, in the amounts of US$5,300, GY$24,600 and SRD$435, respectively.
The cash was seized on October 25, 2018, when a police party from the Fugitive Apprehension Team conducted special operations at the Norman Manley international Airport pursuant to a request from the United States Government and an arrest warrant pursuant to the Extradition Act of 1991.
Lovell, Antonius and Ramirez, Guyanese, Surinamese and Columbian nationals respectively, were located and arrested and their persons and properties searched.
During the search, the cash was found and seized by the police under the POCA on the suspicion that it had derived from unlawful conduct.
All three men indicated that the cash was obtained from legitimate businesses to include gold mining and a car wash, but neither of them was able to verify the existence of the said businesses.
FID investigated and found that none of the alleged businesses existed and that none of the men were found to possess licenses for the operation of a gold mining business. The men have since been extradited to the United States.
On June 25, the Corporate Area Parish Court also ordered the forfeiture of cash in the amount of J$148,000. The cash was seized from Evroy Rowe on October 4, 2016 during an intelligence driven operation.
Rowe was stopped on Laws Street in the vicinity of Pearnel Charles Arcade, downtown Kingston and later transported to the Kingston Central Criminal Investigations Branch office where the car he was driving was searched and a quantity of Western Union receipts in the names of several Jamaican recipients found.
Rowe was unable to satisfactorily account for the seized cash. The cash was therefore seized pursuant to the POCA as it was reasonably believed that the cash was recoverable property or was intended for use in unlawful conduct.
In all three applications for forfeiture of seized cash, the FID said the courts found that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that the cash seized was derived from unlawful sources or was intended to be used for unlawful conduct.
The forfeiture applications were made pursuant to Section 79 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, which permits the Parish Court to order the forfeiture of cash if satisfied that the cash is either recoverable property or is intended to be used by any person in unlawful conduct.
Hay says this provision properly allows the FID to properly accomplish a key goal of taking the profit out of crime.

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