IT has become evident that the Opposition would stoop to any level whatsoever to frustrate meeting the May 27 deadline for enactment of amendments to the Anti- Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT).

Secretary to the Cabinet, Dr Roger Luncheon made the observation yesterday at his usual post-Cabinet press conference at the Office of the President in Georgetown.
If the amendments are not passed by May 27, Guyana could end up on a list with other delinquent countries and would be visited with a regime of sanctions which will include restrictions in the manner that business is conducted internationally, especially involving wire transfers of funds.
Once placed on that list, it takes an average of about seven years to be taken off, and during that time Guyana would have to undergo stringent scrutiny on procedures used when transacting business across borders.
Meanwhile, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog against financial crimes, will meet in Nicaragua from May 27-30 and will examine how Guyana and other countries in the Caribbean are meeting international obligations.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall would be pressing for an extension or some kind of delay for Guyana during the meeting. He is a member of the Guyana team that will represent the country’s interest before the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the International Cooperative Review Group (ICRG).
“I don’t see what other options exist for the Attorney General. I suspect among the things he would press for is some extension, some delays…I can’t see him going there to do more than plead, beg. What else could you be doing?” Luncheon said yesterday.
He observed that APNU and AFC have used every possible forum to inform Guyanese of its non-support for the efforts at meeting the deadline for the enactment of the Amendment Bill and for the bill itself.
“The level to which APNU has descended to ensure that the deadline was not met must be recorded and was commented on at Cabinet,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nandlall has said that the amendment to the Act is about Guyana’s national interest and this should supersede political interest. He said it was time for the political opposition to put aside their political interests and think nationally and patriotically.
Speaking during an interview on the National Communications Network’s ‘Inside Parliament’ programme, the minister said that the bill should be passed in the national interest, as Guyana is a signatory to several treaties internationally that specify the need for such legislation.
“These treaties are UN treaties and they are supervised, they are monitored by United Nations and United Nations satellite bodies all across the world. Because of the importance which attaches to these treaties, countries have agreed that they will impose sanctions upon countries which do not comply with these obligations and the requirements which devolve upon them out of this treaty and that is a common understanding among nations,” the AG stated.
The amendments which are in this bill came out of issues raised, Minister Nandlall said, by the CFATF on anti-laundering set up to monitor these activities in the Region.
He said that 29 countries come under its umbrella of supervisory control and monitoring. “It is those experts from that unit who came up with this essentially, with these recommendations, and of course we in Guyana, in particular the AG Chambers and the Financial Intelligence Unit here, would have had to discuss the recommendations with them to ensure that they do not violate or they are not inconsistent with our domestic law, and of course the Constitution.”