Convictions of foreign nationals serve as warning against cash transactions over $1m
Published:Wednesday | October 15, 2025 | 12:08 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
The convictions of two foreign nationals who travelled to Jamaica to collect thousands of dollars in United States (US) currency for a business transaction with a local company, in breach of Jamaican law, should serve as a warning to others, law-enforcement authorities have cautioned.
Adesh Karin Seuraj, who is a Trinidadian businessman, and Lal Chowdhary were held with US$50,000, the equivalent of J$8 million, and US$64,408, the equivalent of J$10 million, at the Sangster International Airport in St James last week Monday and Wednesday as they were about to board separate flights to Curaçao, the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) revealed.
The cash was disclosed on the declaration forms they completed.
The JCA said both men told Customs officers that the cash was collected from the same wholesale store in Montego Bay, also in St James, for goods that were supplied by their respective warehouses in Curacao.
Seuraj and Chowdhary pleaded guilty in the St James Parish Court last Friday to one count of engaging in a cash transaction exceeding J$1 million and were each fined $200,000. The cash was released to them.
Section 101A of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) prohibits non-permitted persons from conducting cash transactions of J$1 million (or the equivalent in other currencies) or more to make payments for property or services or to reduce debts and/or accounts payable.
Director of Investigation at the JCA Cassell Dunkley said both incidents underscored the agency’s vigilance in protecting Jamaica’s financial system from abuse and served as a reminder to travellers and business operators of their legal obligations and to use the formal banking system.
“We have stepped up our enforcement (of the legislation) … we take border security very seriously,” Dunkley told The Gleaner yesterday.
DECLARATION AND VERIFICATION
He noted that while carrying cash across borders is not illegal, travellers must declare any amount over US$10,000 (or its equivalent) and must be able to verify its source and purpose.
“These safeguards are designed to deter money laundering, trade-based money laundering, and other forms of illicit finance that threaten the integrity of our economy,” said Dunkley.
In June last year, the global Financial Action Task Force removed Jamaica from its ‘Grey List’ of countries that are assessed as having strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism regimes.
Dunkley said that the JCA is part of the national risk assessment committee of Jamaica, “and we have a responsibility to protect our country and to ensure that persons operate within the law as it relates to financial transactions”.
The Financial Investigation Division (FID) said the convictions of Seuraj and Chowdhary reflect the strength of its partnership with the JCA and “our shared focus on protecting Jamaica’s financial system”.
“When significant sums move across borders, the law requires transparency about the source and purpose of those funds,” said Keith Darien, principal director of investigations at the FID.