…defends deferral of motion on AML/CFT Authority

THE National Assembly on Thursday moved to defer the adoption of the sixth report of the standing Committee on Appointments to appoint members of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Authority (AML/CFT) and Attorney General, Basil Williams defended the decision even as he warned against Guyana going back into a ‘black hole.’

Minister of Social Cohesion and Chairman of the Committee on Appointments, Dr George Norton, instead of putting the motion forward for adoption as scheduled on the order paper, stood before the House to request that the report be deferred.
Those recommended by the Committee on Appointments are Nicholas Deygoo and Captain Gerald Gouveia of the PSC; Wayne Eucaulton Fordyce of the Association of Bankers; Hance Manohar of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana; Thomas Bissessar and Frederick Collins of the TGI; Mohamed Alli and Christopher Ram of the Bar Association; Melissa De Santos of the Insurance Institute of Guyana; and Sadie Amin of the Guyana Association of Women’s Lawyers.

Dr. Norton’s request prompted Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira to object immediately, noting that the Committee on appointments had worked tirelessly on putting the names together and she found it “highly irregular on the part of the Chairman to come to this house and ask for deferral without enlightening the House the reason.”

Teixeira argued that the process was held up twice before in the 10th Parliament and should no longer be delayed. “Is it that the ten names the Committee worked hard to bring to this House…are they no longer fit and proper?” asked the Opposition Chief Whip.
Her question prompted the attorney general who rose on a point of order, to question Teixeira’s contention. He informed the House that there is good reason for a request for deferral of the adoption of the sixth report on the Standing Committee on Appointments to address the appointment of members of the AML/CFT Authority. “The AML/CFT is a regime that is here to stay and it changes with each round–rules are made and rules are changed – and the idea is to conform with the recommendations of the FATF and CFATF…,” said Williams.

He explained that the Authority was established on the FIU and that recommendations were initially made for 12 positions to be identified by the parliamentary committee to be appointed by the Parliament. However, there was a provision for 13 ex-officio members to be appointed, thereby bringing the total to twenty-five persons.

“Under the last Government the AML-CFT regime was the FIU. Guyana was the only country in the 25 nations in CFATF that had one element of a national coordinating committee…We now have Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), [and] Bank of Guyana (BOG)…,” he stated.

Williams reminded the House of the challenges Guyana faced just before exiting the third round of evaluation. “We took ourselves out of the hole. Therefore, we recognise that it is not a good thing to go into holes…the CFATF has written to us indicating that the national authority which is the FIU has no relevance,” said Williams who referenced a Memorandum he received from the executive director of the CFATF dated January 3, 2018. “If we keep the Authority, we could end up in the black hole again,” declared Williams.

But Teixeira maintained the Opposition’s position that they are not in support of the deferral of the adoption of the report. “We are opposed to this on the ground that the report was here since 2017 July,” she said, while noting that the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs would have written Committee on Appointments indicating, among other things, that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) recommended that changes be made.

“Mr. Speaker, the Committee’s process is above board and has named people and gone to civil society… Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee be adopted today and now.” Teixeira’s request was seconded by opposition member, Irfaan Ali.

Speaker Dr. Barton Scotland called for a vote. In the end, government secured 29 votes while the opposition obtained 28. The Committee on Appointments had agreed on the nominees for the Authority after consulting with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the Private Sector Commission, Guyana Association of Bankers, Institution of Chartered Accountants Guyana, Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc., the Bar Association of Guyana, Insurance Institute of Guyana, Guyana Association of Women’s Lawyers and Guyana Securities Council.