ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has stated that the move by the Parliamentary Opposition to again delay the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill (AMLCFT) demonstrates that Guyana’s national interest has been hijacked by the tyranny of a one seat majority in the National Assembly.

In an invited comment to the Government Information Agency, AG Nandlall added that the move “is a true tragedy of the one seat majority. I hope that Guyanese are recognising that their true enemies are those who are masquerading as their leaders in the National Assembly.”
The amendments to the Bill are necessary if Guyana is to comply with certain international recommendations made by the Caribbean Task Force on Anti Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism. AG Nandlall said that from the inception, government had made a full and frank disclosure of all the relevant information on the AMLCFT Bill in terms of its importance to Guyana, the time-frame within which it must be enacted, and the consequences which are likely to ensue if it is not promulgated.
He explained that these facts were made public as well as specifically communicated to the members of the parliamentary Opposition. However, the joint Opposition immediately began a process designed ultimately to defeat the Bill. “Theirs was an agenda to prevent the enactment of the legislation, obviously so that Government would fail and that they can score political points,” the AG observed.
He noted however, that while a political game was chosen to be played by the joint Opposition, dire consequences will flow to the country as a whole. He pointed out that when public pressure came, including from the diplomatic community, demanding their support, the Opposition demanded more time. The AG pointed out that they had six weeks to study the bill before it was read a second time in the National Assembly. However, they nevertheless demanded more time.
“It was on the basis of their request for more time that it was sent to the Select Committee. At the Select Committee, they again began a process manifestly designed to sabotage this bill by seeking long adjournments for meetings. They next requested inputs from stakeholders. The government side complied with all these requests,” the AG said. “When submissions were received by the stakeholders, their next strategy of delay was to absent themselves from the meeting. The AFC’s Mr. Ramjattan missed almost all and the APNU only had one member out of four attending the meetings. Then they took the statement allegedly made by the president in which they concocted an interpretation that the President labelled them terrorists, and stopped coming altogether, ” the AG stated.
Nevertheless, the government side proceeded to examine the Bill clause by clause in the Committee and examined the stakeholders’ submissions. Those include the Bank of Guyana, Ram and McRae, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Raymon Gaskin and the Guyana Women Lawyers Association, among others.
 
The AG observed however, that when the entire process was finished, “and we were about to examine the report of the Select Committee, and the final draft of the Bill to be presented to the National Assembly, the opposition members, perhaps for the first time since the committee commenced its work, attended with all members and effectively torpedoed the Bill by a majority vote.”
This, he said, resulted in the simple and effective rejection of “all the work we did, some of which the Opposition contributed to do whenever they were present; this was effectively rejected by the opposition once again.”
 
Private sector
AG Nandlall explained that the move by the Opposition means that Guyana, as a country, will have to face sanctions for being non- compliant with the requirements set by the international regulatory agency. “Allegations made by the Opposition in the press that we are unclear about the deadline that we have to meet is simply a barefaced misrepresentation,” as “they themselves requested a document from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and that document was sent by CFATF which they received and hopefully read.”
The AG noted also that Mr. Carl Greenidge’s contention, published in the press, that several businesses in Guyana are engaged in money laundering activities, is an indictment on Guyana’s hardworking private sector and is a highly reckless statement. “The contention also that the Government is engaged in similar activities is similarly reckless. Any responsible politician who has that kind of information has a duty to communicate full and frank disclosure of the details of the same both to the police and the public,” he declared.
 
Sanctions
On the issue of penalties that Guyana will have to face, the AG said, “Each country will now be free to impose whatever sanctions they see fit on Guyana and to invite businesses located in their territory to do likewise. Sanctions include an absolute cessation of business relations with Guyana as a country, as well a business located in Guyana.”
He noted also that it means that businesses in Guyana that have agencies and other relations with businesses overseas will now have to reconsider those relationships.
“Indeed all transfer of money in and out of Guyana will be subject to stringent regulations, and some of them may be an absolute prohibition against such transfers. This consequently will naturally have far reaching economic and financial consequences upon businesses in Guyana generally, and upon the life of every single Guyanese,” he said.
“Obviously, this is of no concern to the Opposition; they have succeeded in defeating government in parliament and that is what their obsession is. The devastating consequence which it will have on every single Guyanese, including their own supporters, obviously is none of their concern,” the AG declared.(GINA)