THE Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) meeting in Miami, USA, kicked off yesterday.
And Guyana, without an enacted Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill, appears before the regional body today. The local team is being headed by Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
CFATF blacklisted Guyana regionally last November, at its 38th plenary meeting, issuing a missive which called for its members to “consider implementing counter measures to their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks” emanating from Guyana.
“Guyana has made efforts to address its deficiencies, however, it has not taken sufficient steps towards improving its AML/CFT compliance regime by failing to approve and implement required legislative reforms,” the regional body said.

LEGISLATIVE DEFICIENCIES
CFATF added that 98 per cent of the deficiencies in the local AML/CFT framework identified are legislative in nature.
It has stated that Guyana must therefore pass the relevant legislation and implement all the outstanding issues within its Action Plan including: 1) fully criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing offences; 2) addressing all the requirements on beneficial ownership: 3) strengthening the requirements for suspicious transaction reporting, international co-operation, and the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets; and 4) fully implementing the United Nations conventions.
While Government contends that these deficiencies were wholly addressed in the AML/CFT Amendment Bill, it has still not received the support of the combined Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC), both of whom have attached conditions in exchange for their support.
APNU has proposed three amendments that proffer a change to the entire governing apparatus of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); removal of the Attorney General wherever that name appears and replacement of it with the FIU and vesting a Police or Customs Officer with the power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that it is the proceeds of crime or will be used to fund criminal activities. The party is also calling for President Donald Ramotar to assent to Bills passed in the National Assembly, through the Opposition’s one-seat majority, but the Head of State has explained that they are unconstitutional.
The Attorney-General, on behalf of the Government, has since forwarded counter-proposals in the interest of ensuring that the amendments made are CFATF complaint and to move towards a compromise.
These counter-proposals are being considered by the Parliamentary Select Committee, which has been reviewing the AML/CFT Bill for more than 12 months and held its most recent meeting last Thursday, May 22.
The AFC, which has expressed support for APNU’s position, is demanding the establishment of the PPC (Public Procurement Commission), which Government has agreed to, providing that Cabinet retains its no-objection role in the process but the latter position has been rejected by the AFC.

MAINTAINED POSITIONS
Meanwhile, local stakeholders in the financial sector, as well as regional organisations have bemoaned the conditions being maintained by the Opposition, despite both parties publicly stating that they have no objections to the AML/CFT Amendment Bill in its current form.
Advisor on Governance and Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee reviewing the Bill, Gail Teixeira, lamented the position taken, given the devastating consequences non-passage of the AML/CFT Amendment Bill will have for Guyana.
At the last sitting of the National Assembly, last Wednesday, May 21, she quipped in the National Assembly that the Bill is being “tortured” in the Select Committee. “I honestly feel that I am a victim of torture,” Teixeira said, citing the very lengthy time the Bill has spent with the Select Committee.
The ongoing meeting of CFATF ends on Thursday, at which time a final decision can be taken to send Guyana to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF), for review by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG).
If that is done, Guyana could face further sanctions, including being put on the international blacklist.
CFATF is an organisation of twenty-nine jurisdictions of the Caribbean Basin Region, which have agreed to implement the international standards for AML/CFT, as well as recommendations of the international body, FATF.

(By Vanessa Narine)