THE APNU+AFC Administration will today table an amended version of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill in the National Assembly. Responding to a statement by the former Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall, that the 2015 Bill is “incompliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)” recommendations, Minister of State in Ministry of The Presidency, Joseph Harmon, asked, “Why would we put something in there for cheap political value?”

He emphasised that it is the law that they are talking about, it’s not just some joke, neither is it a promise to do something, but this is the law which they are talking about.
He added: “If this is Mr. Nandlall’s advice to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic that this is what we are likely to do, all it does is portend a state of mind of the former Administration that says that law- making was about gimmicks.”
Additionally, the Government, he stated, is not about gimmicks, as they are serious and want to make it very clear that money launderers and terrorists are put on notice about this.
He alluded to the fact that they are going to do whatever it takes to ensure that the law is tightened up, as “we said on more than one occasion that there were too many gaps left in the previous legislation…there were large-enough holes that a shark could swim through.”
Therefore, the Minister of State stressed that the need to tighten those things up and that is what they are doing in the Parliamentary Select Committee, in the 10th Parliament and this is what they are going to bring in the National Assembly, “a tightened law to ensure that we satisfy the national obligations and send a very clear message to money launderers that their time is up.”
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) yesterday during a press briefing raised their concerns that the 2015 Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism

(AML/CFT) Bill is not compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)recommendations, and also disclosed that it will not attend Parliament to discuss the Bill with the Government.
The PPP/C’s Gail Teixeira said that the Bill in its current state contains several inaccuracies, as she pointed out that the PPP/C was presenting a compliant bill, but the former Opposition APNU+AFC is not.
Teixeira noted that the amendment to Sections 8 & 9, deals with the establishment of an AML/CFT Authority to which members will be appointed by the National Assembly. The amendment also pertains to the removal of the minister’s power to appoint the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the power of the President to dismiss the director and place these powers in the Authority.
The amendment as stated, said Ms. Teixeira, appears to undermine the autonomy of the FIU. As stipulated by FATF Recommendation 26, the FIU should have sufficient operational independence and autonomy to ensure that it is free from undue influence or interference. The assigning of responsibility for oversight of the operations of the FIU to the AML/CFT Authority effectively eliminates the operational independence and autonomy. Additionally, it does not comply with the requirement of Recommendation 26, she added.
She noted too that the APNU+AFC Government is aware of the contentious areas of the Bill and should take steps to rectify them and not risk the country being blacklisted to “save face,” adding that “the PPP should not be used to save face.”
Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall explained that taking away the power of appointment from the President and giving it to the National Assembly provides an ideal set-up for there to be corruption in the appointment of the head of the unit.
“This Bill takes politically exposed persons and makes them managers of the FIU,” Nandlall stated, pointing out that it is better to have one politically exposed person handle the affairs of the FIU rather than have 65.”

Moving away from that, Nandlall disclosed that the Charge d’ affaires of the United States Embassy, Mr. Bryan Hunt, is in no position to decide whether the AML/CFT Bill is compliant with the FATF recommendations, because he does not serve in the capacity of a member of the FATF.
That was in response to Hunt’s recent statement that he is “confident that Parliament will approve the legislation by the September deadline, since it has been in limbo for years.”
Hunt was quoted as saying in the Saturday, June 20, 2015 edition of the Guyana Chronicle that, “we fully support the Government in that objective. It’s going to be very important that the legislation is passed by the September deadline for submission to the Financial Action Task Force before its October meeting,”
Hunt expressed optimism about the current format and structure of the Bill, saying “[It] has been reviewed by a number of international bodies.” He continued, “If the bill were to be passed in its current form, then it would be fully compliant with the recommendations that have been put forward by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), and the global Financial Action Task Force.”