LINDENERS were on Wednesday sensitised to the role they can play in reporting any form of suspicious financial transactions by clients or business partners, so that Guyana can win the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

This was related at an Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) sensitisation forum held in the town. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams related that reporting is more so important, as Guyana is now heading to the fourth round of mutual evaluation to become compliant with the FATF regulations.

The audience comprised representatives from reporting agencies across Linden, including commercial banks, cooperative societies, the Linden Chamber of Commerce, insurance companies and regional officials. Representatives of supervisory bodies were also present and made presentations on their role in the fight of AML/CFT. These included the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Bank of Guyana (BoG) and the Guyana Gold Board.

In his opening remarks, Williams, who is also chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFTAF), posited that Guyana has come a far way in its AML regime, moving from being blacklisted to now approaching evaluation in the fourth round. “Serious preparation is being made, hence ongoing regional outreaches are being held to expose citizens on their roles, since they are basically the gatekeepers of our legal economy. In this fourth round, we have to deal with not only recommendations but immediate outcomes, and we also have to show effectiveness and technical compliance, if we fail to do that we will be back to being blacklisted and that would really have a debilitating effect on our economy,” Williams said.

“AML/CFT affects each and every Guyanese as the world is serious about the financing of terrorists and therefore, Guyana should not be used as a conduit to finance these activities. To be successful, convictions are needed and it all depends on an individual’s decision to report suspicious cases and also to stay clean from illegal financial activities,” Williams explained. “One of the things we have to do to be successful is to get convictions to be effective, if we don’t get convictions, we would have to swim in the hole they have in the fourth round; getting conviction lies on all of you here in this room, because you have to give information of suspicious transactions,” said Williams.

Those sentiments were echoed by Mr. Matthew Langevine, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), who in his presentation, educated the audience on the role of the FIU, as an autonomous body responsible for requesting, receiving, analysing and dissemination of suspicious transaction reports and other information relating to money laundering, terrorist financing or the proceeds of crime. “Lindeners must know what is normal cash and unusual cash transactions and when irregularities are noted, an individual should not be hesitant in reporting same to the FIU or any other supervisory agency. You as representative reporting entities, you have a very, very, important role to play in this process, because it starts with you, you are what we call the gatekeepers, because you will see the irregularities first and so it important that you be trained and be aware of what is usual and what is abnormal,” Langevine said.

He said with Guyana on the cusp of experiencing significant development, it is pertinent that “our economy remains clean, so as to remain at best with international financial agencies and organisations such as CFATF.” Lindeners were also told to look out for predicated crimes which are followed by money laundering. These include drug trafficking, prostitution, smuggling etc.

Also giving brief remarks was Ramnarine Lal, Director of the Bank Supervision Department of the Bank of Guyana. He urged reporting agencies to know their customers and to have proof of identity since this is very important. “You must have adequate records of your customer, these must be updated periodically and must be kept for seven years,” he urged. “After knowing a customer, suspicious transactions must be reported to supervisory agencies. Suspicious transactions are what you deem suspicious, it may not be illegal or it could be, but because of how you see this thing, you say something smells fishy about it, so just to be safe, you report it to the FIU, who would do the analysis to ensure that it is suspicious or not suspicious,” Lal stated. He added that suspicion normally comes after transactions of large and unusual sums of cash that are not consistent with the customer’s profile. He urged reporting agencies, especially commercial banks, to have systems in place to identify launderers easily and to continually train staff in this regard.

Head of the Special, Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Sydney James, told the gathering that currently 350 investigations are being conducted and SOCO has a pivotal role in this regard. Convictions he said are important to SOCU, since it is the primary policing unit responsible for investigating money laundering and terrorist financing and could only be done through reporting
Witness protection will be given
Lindeners expressed their willingness to report suspicious financial activities, but were concerned about being protected from the perpetrators when they do blow the whistle. Williams reminded Lindeners of the Witness Protection Act, which guarantees witness protection when there is need to. This can go as far as changing one’s identity or migrating to another country. Handling the witness protection is an anonymous body, which also trains reporting agencies on how this is being done and what is the best approach to take. While Lindeners expressed no-confidence in the police, Williams reminded them that it is a totally independent system and so no one should have fear in reporting, since they will be safe and protected.

Mayor of Linden Waneka Arindell, thanked the attorney general for bringing such a timely outreach to Linden, since it is needed for advancement of the town. An educated population, she said, is one that makes the right choices