(Trinidad Guardian) Chinese nationals operating new businesses in T&T are latching on to a fast and easy money-making venture—gambling through unregulated and unlicenced gaming machines and bush whe whe that can make them targets for ambush and robberies. It is also an easy avenue for money laundering, president of the San Juan Business Association Abraham Ali said.
“Some of these people come to the country and look like they don’t have no money at all, and suddenly you see money going into renovations and the purchase of new and existing properties. So then you know there is an aspect of laundering.” Ali said in the last three years, San Juan has become populated with gaming machines which are owned by Chinese people. The machines are strategically placed in bustling shops, where a rent and a small profit is paid to the owner.
“The bulk of the winnings are collected by the Chinese,” he said. The most popular machine is the one-armed bandit which can leave the player penniless, Ali said. Ali said word on the ground is that 90 per cent of the money illegally collected from the machines is converted into US dollars and sent to China.
“The US dollars are not purchased from banks but at black market prices. The Chinese (people involved) cannot approach the bank to buy US currency for a number of reasons. For one, they have a language barrier. Secondly, they do not own legitimate businesses to acquire large sums of US currency, so they buy it in an underhand way.” The Chinese people involved pay as much as $6.50 (TT) for one US dollar, Ali said.
“One of our main concerns is the expatriation of funds. There is always a big issue where we, as Trinidadians, fight to obtain US currency from the banks; but it is being sneaked out. This creates a negative effect on the economy.” Ali said Susan Francois, director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), hosted a seminar for the San Juan business owners last year to sensitise its 200 members about money laundering and its implications.
At the gathering, Ali said he raised the issue of the free movement of US currency out of T&T by Chinese people. He said while Francois assured that measures have been taken to address this, she could not divulge details since they were sensitive and confidential. Meanwhile, president of the Tunapuna Chamber of Commerce David Edwards is pleading with the authorities to take swift action against the illegal operators before it is too late.
Edwards and concerned members will discuss the matter at the chamber’s next meeting.
He said while the overnight proliferation of Chinese restaurants and supermarkets throughout the country was a matter that needs to be addressed—since many of them violated health laws, refused to hire local labour, and kept the operations of their businesses secretive—what was most bothersome was the unregulated and unregistered roulette machines and placing of illegal bush whe whe bets within the confines of several bars in Tunapuna.
He said it was a new trend that the chamber has been monitoring, since the Government was losing thousands of dollars in revenue with these unregulated machines. “The authorities need to look at this urgently because gambling is already a serious problem in Trinidad,” he said. During the 2014 budget presentation, Finance Minister Larry Howai described gambling as an emerging and substantial industry in T&T, with consistent growth in unlicenced and unregulated gaming.
Howai said under the current legislative framework, all casino operations conducted by self-styled private members’ clubs, and all gaming machine operations in recreation clubs, pubs, arcades and shopping malls are illegal activities. Howai pointed out that gambling has the potential to lead to criminal activity and devastating consequences for a minority of customers, including minors and compulsive gamblers. “There is a clear public need for regulation,” Howai said.
Edwards said in the last year, Chinese nationals, some of whom own restaurants and supermarkets, have been renting spaces inside of bars in Tunapuna to operate roulette machines:
“So far, there are four in operation in Tunapuna that I know of.”
