Caribbean officials seek to curb dirty money

KINGSTON, Jamaica - FINANCE officials from 13 Caribbean island nations and territories met yesterday in Antigua to brainstorm about ways of strengthening anti-money-laundering efforts and asset forfeiture. It's an uphill battle in the Caribbean, which UN experts consider a top destination for the laundering of cocaine income. Last year, eight Caribbean countries or territories were designated by the US as jurisdictions of "primary concern" for money laundering. Convictions for the crime are rare on the islands, mostly tiny British overseas dependencies or independent nations that were once former colonies of Britain. US officials recently reported that there have been just six money-laundering convictions since 2006 in the Cayman Islands, the world's sixth largest financial center. There were none in the Bahamas in 2011.