Money laundering worry in the Pacific

South Pacific countries have been warned that if they delay taking effective

action against money laundering, they run the risk of being accused of opening the door to organised crime.

The warning was delivered by Fiji Solicitor-General Isikeli Mataitoga in Suva last month when opening a regional workshop to help island countries ratify and implement the United Nations Convention on Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs.

Mataitoga said some countries in the South Pacific think there is a conflict between effective money-laundering mea sures and development.

He said they even argue that money laundering measures will hamper invest ments and slow down the development of their financial sector, putting them at a

competitive disadvantage against their

potential rivals.

But the Fiji solicitor-general said the Commonwealth Secretariat had done a recent analysis which showed that these arguments were false.

He said honest investors do not want to put their money in economies propped up

by dirty money.

Mataitoga said criminal money is short term and mobile, and its presence gives financial and regulatory authorities a bad name. He said all this makes action against money launderers even more important.

Mataitoga said effective action against money launderers will make it easier for South Pacific countries to attract money from long-term investors with a genuine interest in the wellbeing of regional economies