–Teixeira

PRESIDENTIAL Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, says Guyana would do well to pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meets again in October.“At any time, if the Bill is passed, it will help,” she told the Guyana Chronicle following her return from a FATF meet in Paris.
FATF, at its one-week plenary meeting, which ended last Friday, accepted the referral of Guyana from its regional watchdog, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), and is expected to undertake a targeted review of Guyana, the results of which will be presented at its October meeting.
Teixeira made it clear that the passage of the Bill will not take Guyana “automatically” out of the review process, but it will help Guyana’s case soewhat, come October.
“It will not take us off the list, but it will help,” she said. “Whatever Bill we pass will still be reviewed too, but at the end of the day, it will contribute and help our case.”
FATF is expected to write Guyana this week to outline the specifics of the targetted review. “In October,” Ms. Teixeira said, “we will know the result of the targetted review… At that time, FATF will decide what measures will be taken, and we will know the severity of Guyana’s listing.”

COMPLETE REVIEW
She, however, said that the international body will be undertaking a complete review of non-legislative and legislative aspects of Guyana’s AML/CFT framework. “We know that 80 per cent of what we need to do, in terms of compliance, is legislative, but with FATF coming in, they will look at everything,” she said.
Prior to CFATF’s referral of Guyana to the international body, it indicated that the country’s non-compliance with international standards would have been addressed with the passage of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill. CFATF’s referral of Guyana to FATF was an ‘effective’ international blacklisting.
The Bill, to meet the requirements the FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRB), CFATF, was tabled in the National Assembly in April 2013, but referred to a Parliamentary Special Select Committee and eventually voted down by the combined Opposition in November 2013. The Bill was re-tabled in December 2013, and again referred to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, chaired by Ms. Gail Teixeira, where it has been since.
Teixeira, also Chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee, said that with the FATF review, Guyana is no longer under CFATF’s scope. “Guyana is now taken out of regional review and put under international scrutiny,” she said.
However, the counter-measures advised to be taken against Guyana by CFATF, which officially blacklisted Guyana regionally, remain in force.
These include, among other counters: The requirement of enhanced due diligence measures; introducing enhanced reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; refusing the establishment of subsidiaries or branches or representative offices in the country concerned, or otherwise taking into account the fact that the relevant financial institution is from a country that does not have adequate AML/CFT systems and limiting the business relationships or financial transactions with the identified country or persons in that country.

NOT A FAST PROCESS

As Ms. Teixeira pointed out, now that Guyana is under a FATF review, the process will not be a fast one, but one that will take years. “The process is not a fast one; and once we are before them (FATF), it doesn’t mean you get off easily,” she said.
She used as an example of countries that were included in FATF’s most recent public statement, the case of Argentina, which only this month ended its third round of review, after being identified as a country with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies by the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) in 2011. “There are several countries that came under FATF’s review since 2011 and 2012, and are still being reviewed,” she said.
Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in a prior interview, had indicated that exiting FATF’s review could take between four and seven years, and cost Guyana millions of dollars.

NEW TERRITORY
Ms. Teixeira also told the Guyana Chronicle that Guyana is now in new territory. Acknowledging that Guyana was not listed on FATF’s public system, she stated that Guyana’s unique situation resulted in the move towards a targeted review, rather than a full review by FATF’s ICRG; although a preliminary review of Guyana by ICRG was done when FATF met last week.
Teixeira noted that Guyana’s treatment by FATF is not a strange one; that rather countries in like circumstances, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, have been similarly treated.
The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) of the Council of Europe issued a public statement on Bosnia and Herzegovina in light of continued lack of progress in the adoption of necessary legislation to address its concerns.
The public statement was adopted by MONEYVAL in its 44th plenary meeting (31 March–4 April 2014), under Step 3 of its Compliance Enhancing Procedures. The Committee however deferred its issue until June 1, 2014, in order to allow Bosnia and Herzegovina further time to adopt all necessary amendments to the preventive Law and the Criminal Code.
The necessary legislation was not adopted by the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the MONEYVAL deadline of May 31, 2014.
As a result, MONEYVAL, like CFATF did with Guyana, invited FATF to address their concerns.

VINDICATED
Teixeira underscored the fact that the current Administration has been vindicated in its many calls for the passage of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill, in terms of avoiding a review by FATF.
“We have said this before; we said that this was going to happen if we did not pass the Bill. And now, here we are,” she said.
In November 2011, the CFATF first brought to the attention of its members certain jurisdictions, including Guyana, with significant strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regime with a view to encouraging expeditious rectification of the identified strategic deficiencies Guyana and the CFATF developed an Action Plan with identified target dates to address the strategic deficiencies that exist in Guyana’s national architecture to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
However, the Government and the combined Opposition have been gridlocked over the compliance in the areas requiring the passage of legislation.
Both Opposition Parties, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), have linked conditionalities to their support for passage of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill.
APNU proposed three amendments, which were included in the Party’s draft amendments to the Principal AML/CFT Act, which President Donald Ramotar said would be supported by his Government if the Party would agree to pass the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill but this was rejected.
Additionally, APNU’s position is an ‘all-or-nothing’ one, as the Party maintains its demands not only for their Bill, but also restated its call on the President to give his assent to several Bills passed in the National Assembly, including the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2013, which states that elections must be held on or before August 1, 2014. The Head of State has already forwarded his explanation for his non-assent to the National Assembly.
On the other hand, the AFC, which is fully behind APNU’s position, is demanding the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which the 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. However, on May 29, after the announcement by CFATF, the AFC, in a statement, noted that it is now willing to budge on its position, and support Cabinet’s retention of its no-objection role.
Government has repeated its willingness to have the Bill passed, and has demonstrated its commitment to same, but up to the last meeting of the Select Committee, no moves have been made with the Bill.

(By Vanessa Narine)