Lt. Col Edward Croft is the Director of the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP), in which capacity he is responsible for the investigation of serious organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering offences, and the financing of terrorism, and for the forfeiture and confiscation of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime. He is also responsible for supervision of financial institutions for compliance with their anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism obligations. As such, he is the person to whom all suspicious activity reports are made, and is responsible for monitoring the compliance and effective implementation by financial institutions of AML/CFT law, and requirements.
Having served over 34 years in the military, Lt. Col Croft brings a diverse wealth of knowledge to the financial compliance sector. His expertise in management and leadership has brought a unique element to financial compliance, and the investigations of money laundering and terrorist financing. He has also been instrumental in creating an improved culture of compliance within the financial sectors of Antigua and Barbuda and has been at the helm of the ONDCP since 2007.
Lt. Col. Croft holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). He is a graduate of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College, completed an International Defence Management Course at the Naval Post Graduate School in California, USA and later completed a Managing Defence in a Democracy Course at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, United Kingdom. He received a Diploma in International Financial Crime Prevention and Compliance, and subsequently gained the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) accreditation. He is also a qualified Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) examiner on FATF anti-money laundering standards and is a graduate of the National Executive Institute of the FBI Academy.
Lt. Col. Croft has been a contributor to many regional AML/CFT conferences and forums and brings practical knowledge and experience of the effective implementation of an AML/CFT regime.
He is the Prime Contact of Antigua and Barbuda to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. He is the National Point of Contact to the OAS CICTE on Intelligence & Terrorism, Commissioner to the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) for Antigua & Barbuda and is currently a member of the National Security Council. He served in the capacity of Chairman of the Caricom Standing Committee of Heads of Intelligence and Financial Intelligence Units for the period 2008 – 2012. He is also presently the Executive President of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Committee, (a youth development programme). He was appointed as Coordinator for the conduct of the National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and also coordinated the various entities and organizations in preparation for Antigua and Barbuda’s CFATF Mutual Evaluation. Served in the capacity as Deputy Chairman to the Caribbean Financial Task Force during the period 2018 to 2019 and is presently the Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.