Shaw urges real estate practitioners to support Anti-Money Laundering efforts

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Hon. Audley Shaw, has urged stakeholders in the real estate industry to continue their drive to support the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legislation and enforcement initiatives of the Government.
Noting that real estate is a one of the areas that readily comes into contact with individuals who may be seeking to circumvent the law, Minister Shaw said, “I know that the board and its colleague associations have checks and balances in place, but I urge you to be relentless in this regard and take a zero tolerance approach to any inklings that run counter to the law.”
Minister Shaw was speaking on behalf of Prime Minister The Most Hon. Andrew Holness at the 30th Anniversary Banquet & Awards Ceremony of the Real Estate Board (REB), held at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on October 6.
Continuing, Minister Shaw said, “Our culture of informality may incite some amount of resistance to these regimes, especially AML, but I urge you, as regulator and practitioners, to stand your ground in support of nation building.”
The minister commended the REB for its requirement that all dealers and salesmen take AML courses and make the necessary reports to the REB and the Financial Investigative Division and urged the board to keep up and strengthen its enforcement and training initiatives, where necessary.
“We cannot sit by and allow unscrupulous individuals to poke holes in the mechanisms designed to ensure a healthy financial service sector or our economy,” stated Minister Shaw.
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