ONDCP MOVES TO COMPLETE FORFEITURE OF FUNDS WITH ALLEGED LINKS TO ODEBRECHT SAGA

The authorities in Antigua and Barbuda have made a major breakthrough in the forfeiture of funds linked to the sordid saga involving Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht. The Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy, ONDCP, is now moving to recover funds in Meinl Bank (Antigua) Limited, belonging to Panamanian company, Creswell Overseas SA. Meinl Bank (Antigua) Ltd, an offshore financial institution, is now in liquidation. The ONDCP is moving to have the funds seized and forfeited to the Antigua and Barbuda Government, following a Recovery Order granted by Justice Rene Williams in the High Court last November, under section 60BB of the Proceeds of Crime Act. The ONDCP says the order covers just over US$14 million and just over 17.5 million euros owned by the Panamanian company. The recovery order was granted after the authorities alleged that the monies in the accounts at Meinl Bank (Antigua) Ltd came from accounts controlled by the Brazilian company Odebrecht SA, as part of the notorious operation car wash. ONDCP Director, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Croft is pleased with the performance of his financial investigators as they move to take the profit out of crime.