ATTORNEY General & Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who recently returned from Guyana’s review held by CFAT in Nicaragua, said the successes of the Finance Ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) were in large part responsible for Guyana managing to secure an extension from the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFAT) to amend its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws.

The minister said that, over the course of time, the FIU has been submitting required reports in a timely manner, and the CFAT had found that the performance of the Financial Intelligence Unit was satisfactory ever since it began to come under review in 2011.
The minister also said that Guyana, having managed to put in place supervisory authorities over the local financial institutions, also played a key role in the country securing the extension.
In keeping with provisions under the existing anti-money laundering laws, local financial institutions have been made to submit a number of periodic reports that were favourably reviewed by CFAT.
Nandlall also referred to the fact that, during a visit by a high-level delegation from CFAT, fruitful meetings had been held at the highest level, and included Head of State Donald Ramotar; Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon; Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh; and Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Mr Lawrence Williams, among others.
Nandlall disclosed that the delegation had met with members of the political opposition at a forum facilitated by the Grand Coastal Inn.
Minister Nandlall said Guyana had been given a deadline for the submission of the amendments to  Parliament, which was met; and while the failure to meet the deadline in relation to its passage was not met, CFAT found that the commitment had been demonstrated.
He said that, considering that government holds a minority in the National Assembly, “we gave the assurance of our commitment to ensure that it is passed.”
According to Nandlall, “All these factors were assessed, and it was found that Guyana has demonstrated a commitment to having the recommendations and the Bill implemented.
“We gave an assurance that we would continue to ensure that the Bill passes through Parliament. As a result, CFAT informed that for its undertaken review of Guyana, it will write a “balanced statement.” Such a statement, according to Nandlall, will inform that Guyana has failed to meet the May 27 deadline, but will chronicle the efforts made.
The minister disclosed that, should Guyana fail to meet the November deadline for which it successfully lobbied, an “adverse statement” would be written, meaning that Guyana would be blacklisted, and countries would be advised that Guyana has been listed as a non-cooperating country and would have to adjust how they treat with the local financial institutions
Executive Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party, Zulfikar Mustapha, who yesterday also addressed the media on the matter, said the party has noted that, after intense lobbying, Guyana received an extension until November to make the necessary amendments to avoid being blacklisted as a non-cooperating nation.
He said that what is of concern to the party is the seeming disappointment of the Opposition, “specifically the Alliance For Change (AFC), that the nation was not blacklisted.”
According to Mustapha, the PPP recalls that the initial Opposition contention was that the amendment tabled by Government was done too close to the deadline, and as such it suffered from insufficient time.
He said that despite indicating this, the party subsequently said it was ready to support the amendments if the president gave in to several of its demands, including signing of two bills proposed by A Partnership for National Unity, which it had approved in the House.