Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)

2.   Interpretation

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   (1)   In this Act —

“account” means a facility by which a financial institution or person engaged in other business activity —

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   (a)     accepts deposits of money;

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   (b)     allows withdrawals or transfers of money;

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   (c)     pays or collects cheques or payment orders drawn on a financial institution or person engaged in other business activity by a person or on behalf of a person;

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   (d)     supplies a safety deposit box; or

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   (e)     engages in any other activity for and on behalf of an account holder;

“Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs” means the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs established under the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act or any enactment replacing it;

“Authority” means the Financial Intelligence Authority continued under section 4;

“beneficial owner” means a natural person, who —

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   (a)     ultimately owns or controls a legal person or legal arrangement;

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   (b)     exercises control of a legal person or legal arrangement through other means, in a case where —

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      (i)     there is doubt under subsection (a),

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      (ii)     a natural person does not ultimately own or control a legal person or arrangement;

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   (c)     holds the position of a senior managing official, in a case where a natural person is not identified under paragraph (a) or (b);

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021 and substituted by Act 5 of 2023)

“Central Bank”, in relation to the supervision of a licensed financial institution, means the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank established under Article 3 of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement, the text of which is set out in the Schedule to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement Act; (Inserted by Act 13 of 2019 and substituted by Act 16 of 2021)

“Court” means the High Court;

“close associate” means a natural person, who —

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   (a)     is known to hold the ownership or control of a legal person or legal arrangement jointly with a politically exposed person;

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   (b)     holds the ownership or control of a legal person or legal arrangement which is known to have been established for the benefit of a politically exposed person;

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   (c)     maintains another type of close business or personal relationship with a politically exposed person;

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   (Inserted by Act 5 of 2023)

“criminal conduct” means —

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   (a)     terrorist financing;

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   (b)     proliferation financing;

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   (c)     an indictable or a summary offence; or

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   (d)     an offence triable summarily or on indictment,

committed, in or outside Saint Lucia;

(Substituted by Act 20 of 2016 and by Act 16 of 2021)

“Director” means the Director of the Financial Intelligence Authority appointed under section 4;

“document” includes —

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   (a)     a thing on which there is writing, marks, figures, symbols or perforations, having a meaning for a person qualified to interpret the writing, marks, figures, symbols or perforations;

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   (b)     a thing from which sounds, images or writing may be reproduced; and

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   (c)     a map, plan, drawing or photograph;

“domestic politically exposed person”, in relation to Saint Lucia, means an individual who is entrusted with a prominent public function in Saint Lucia, such as —

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   (a)     the Head of State;

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   (b)     the Head of Government;

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   (c)     a senior politician;

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   (d)     a senior government official;

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   (e)     a judicial official;

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   (f)     a military official;

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   (g)     a senior executive of a state-owned corporation;

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   (h)     an important political party official;

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

“drug trafficking offence” means —

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   (a)     possession of a controlled drug for the purpose of supplying contrary to section 8(3) of the Drug (Prevention of Misuse) Act;

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   (b)     trafficking in a controlled drug contrary to section 16 of the Drug (Prevention of Misuse) Act;

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   (c)     assisting another to retain the benefit of drug trafficking contrary to section 17 of the Drug (Prevention of Misuse) Act;

“Financial Action Task Force” means the inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing; (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

“financial institution” means a financial institution listed in Part A of Schedule 2;

“Foreign Financial Intelligence Unit” means a body or bodies outside of Saint Lucia which performs functions similar to the Authority;

“foreign politically exposed person”, in relation to a country other than Saint Lucia, means an individual who is entrusted with a prominent public function by a country other than Saint Lucia, such as —

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   (a)     the Head of State;

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   (b)     the Head of Government;

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   (c)     a senior politician;

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   (d)     a senior government official;

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   (e)     a judicial official;

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   (f)     a military official;

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   (g)     a senior executive of a state-owned corporation;

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   (h)     an important political party official;

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

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

“forfeiture order” means an order made under section 24;

“freeze” means to temporarily prohibit the transfer, conversion, disposition or movement of property or to temporarily assume custody or control of property on the basis of an order by a court or other competent authority;

“freezing order” means an order made under section 23;

“guidance notes” means guidance notes issued by the Authority under section 6(f);

“identification record” means —

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   (a)     documentary evidence to prove the identity of a person who is a nominee, agent, beneficiary or principal in relation to a transaction; or

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   (b)     in the case where the person is a corporate body —

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      (i)     incorporated in Saint Lucia, the certificate of incorporation of that body,

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      (ii)     incorporated outside of Saint Lucia, the authenticated certificate of incorporation or equivalent document of that body,

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      (iii)     the most recent annual return to the Registrar of the Court in Saint Lucia where the corporate body is incorporated abroad, or

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      (iv)     documentary evidence to prove the identity of an officer of the corporate body;

“international politically exposed person”, in relation to an international organization, means an individual who is entrusted with prominent functions by an international organization, such as —

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   (a)     a director;

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   (b)     a deputy director;

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   (c)     a member of a board of directors;

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   (d)     a member of senior management;

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

“joint account” means an account held by 2 or more persons;

“Minister” means the Attorney General;

“money laundering” means conduct which constitutes an offence under section 28, 29, or 30; (Inserted by Act 20 of 2016)

“other business activity” means the business activities listed in Part B of Schedule 2;

“person” includes any entity, natural or juridical, a corporation, partnership, trust or estate, joint stock company, association, syndicate, joint venture, or other unincorporated organization or group, capable of acquiring rights or entering into obligations; (Substituted by Act 20 of 2016)

“politically exposed person” means —

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   (a)     a domestic politically exposed person;

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   (b)     a foreign politically exposed person; or

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   (c)     an international politically exposed person;

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

“proceeds” (Deleted by Act 20 of 2016)

“proceeds of criminal conduct” means property —

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   (a)     derived from or obtained directly or indirectly; or

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   (b)     mingled with any property derived from or obtained directly or indirectly;

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   by any person from the commission of criminal conduct;

(Substituted by Act 20 of 2016)

“property” includes money, movable or immovable property, corporeal or incorporeal property and an interest in property;

“requesting State” means a State which makes a request to Saint Lucia for assistance under letters rogatory the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act or any enactment replacing it; (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

“relevant offence” (Deleted by Act 20 of 2016)

“terrorist financing”, in relation to a financial institution and a person engaged in other business activity, has the meaning assigned under Part 1 of the Schedule to the Anti-Terrorism (Guidelines for Financial Institutions) Regulations; (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

“transaction” includes —

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   (a)     any deposit, withdrawal, exchange or transfer of funds in any currency whether in cash or by cheque, payment order or other instrument or by electronic or other non-physical means, such as a wire transfer; (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (b)     any payment made or received in satisfaction in whole or in part of any contractual or legal obligation;

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   (c)     a matter between the holders of a joint account relating to the joint account;

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   (d)     entering into a fiduciary relationship;

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   (e)     an internet transaction;

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   (f)     opening of a joint account where the purpose of the account is to facilitate a transaction between the holders of the joint account;

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   (g)     opening of an account; and

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   (h)     the purchase of anything or service including any service provided by a financial institution or person engaged in other business activity;

(Substituted by Act 20 of 2016)

“transaction record” includes where relevant to a transaction —

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   (a)     the identification records of a person who is a party to a transaction;

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   (b)     a description of the transaction sufficient to identify the date, purpose and method of execution;

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   (c)     the details of any account used for a transaction including the name of the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity, address and sort code;

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   (d)     the total value of the transaction;

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   (e)     the name and address of the employee in the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity who prepared the transaction record;

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   (f)     all business correspondence relating to the transaction;

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   (g)     documents relating to the background and purpose of the transaction; (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (h)     a documented analysis conducted of matters specified under paragraphs (a) to (g); (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (Substituted by Act 20 of 2016)

“ultimately own and control” means a direct or an indirect ownership or control of 25% or more of the shares, voting rights or ownership interest in a legal person or legal arrangement; (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021 and substituted by Act 5 of 2023)

“virtual asset business” has the meaning assigned under the Virtual Asset Business Act. (Inserted by Act 5 of 2023)

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   (2)   A reference in this Act to a document includes a reference to —

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      (a)     part of a document; and

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      (b)     a copy, reproduction or duplicate of the document, or of part of the document.